


Make a Plan

by mad_fairy



Series: Mischief's Heir [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Magic and Science
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-06
Updated: 2016-01-03
Packaged: 2018-04-25 02:29:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 99,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4943245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mad_fairy/pseuds/mad_fairy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry, Tom and their cohorts enter another school year.  An international competition and worries about how far muggles have actually come make it a year fraught with tension, worry and new challenges.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Well, here we are again for part III. Updates will probably be a bit more sporadic for this part than they have been for the two previous as we're coming to the end of what I've already written. Never fear. Once I start posting something I've made a commitment to see it finished. I know there's nothing I myself hate more than getting engrossed in a story that never gets finished. I won't do that to you!

"Looks like we're here. Those kids over there are wearing your jumpsuit." Dan Granger noted absently.

Hermione leaned in between her parents so she could see.

"Yes, that's them. They all seem to be here already… and no wonder. They look like they came together in a van with Professor Lupin! No one told me about this!" 

"They offered the option of flooing to a meeting place and coming by van from there when they sent us the permission forms. We said we'd drive you. It was simpler on our end."

"Oh. If you would just let me get a floo attached..."

"No." her mother answered firmly. "We've been over this before."

Her dad pulled in to the spot next to the van, and then climbed out, heading towards professor Lupin, her mum not far behind him. Hermione scrambled out after them to find out what they thought they were doing, but they sent her off with the rest of the kids. She drug her feet, glancing back often, but they were just introducing themselves and making inane small talk. They were waiting for her to be out of earshot so they could interrogate him on her complaints about unfair grading, she just knew it. Her mum gave her a look that said _Honestly! Act your age! Enough stalling, scram!_ Hermione scowled at her unhappily, but went over to join the group of kids gathered there on the waterside. Their talk tapered off as she approached. She looked at them all suspiciously.

"What's going on?"

"Nothing you'd been interested in." Ron informed her.

"Try me." 

"We were trying to design a working lightsaber." Seamus replied.

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Of course you were." 

"It's nearly time to leave. You should get our pictures taken now that everyone is here." Tom interjected. 

"Pictures?" she asked.

"To prove we really did community service. One will go in each of our files. We even made a sign." Dean explained.

"No one told me...and why aren't you going to be in it?" she asked Tom.

"That's what we're doing, and obviously Tom can't since he's fifty years out of time and not doing the expanded muggle studies anyway. Professor Lupin is going to take the group shot, and then Colin is going to snap a few of us sorting garbage to round things out." Harry sighed.

"Line up, kids. I think the captain is about ready to set sail." Remus called to them.

The kids formed up in a group around the sign Dean produced that read _"Grey Friars Academy. International Baccalaureate Community Service Corps. Summer, 1994"_  
For once, Colin was on the other side of the camera, helping hold up the sign, along with Dean and Seamus.  
Professor Lupin snapped a couple of pictures and then took the sign. "I'll get one more of you on the ship before you head out." 

"You kids just about ready to cast off?" one of the dockworkers asked.

"Yeah." 

They all hurried aboard the old boat they'd hired to take them up and down the river in sections over the next two weeks. The captain was a half-deaf muggle who didn't care what they were doing, just that he got paid. The Ministry had unobtrusively charmed him to be sure he continued to remain uncurious while they completed their project.  
They all looked rather professional in their dark grey coveralls, with the crest of "Grey Friars Academy" on the breast. They likely wouldn't remain so for long once the garbage started flowing. Even with magic, it was likely to be a messy business.  
The kids lined up and had a few more pictures taken as the port crew untied the boat and waved to Remus and Hermione's parents as they slowly moved out into the river.  
Once they were underway, Colin turned to the rest of them curiously.

"I thought we were dredging the river? Don't we need like, a scooper or something?" 

Tom Riddle shuddered in distaste and then fixed them all with a wry look. 

"If you all really want to have river mud and garbage raining down on your heads, well, you're strange little creatures and probably shouldn't be allowed out by yourselves. I don't care if anyone thinks it will make the muggles happy. Most folks on the river aren't going to be paying any of us any mind. The muggle driving the boat is old, half-deaf and not at all interested in what any of us are doing. There's a thing I charmed up that's floating along down the river bed, sucking up anything that doesn't belong here--it will leave behind water, mud, weeds and any fish. One corner of it will be sending garbage down into the hold of the boat so you can put on a good show of being good little school children performing a public service. We'll have to sort it, bundle it and have it ready to be hauled off by truck at the end of the day. Everything else is being sent directly to the landfill in the open space they left for us. We'll be knee deep in garbage as it is, I have no intention of it dripping on my head as well, muggles or no bloody muggles." 

"Fair enough. I wasn't actually looking forward to that part." Hannah laughed. The rest of the kids could only agree.

Many of them had never been on the river before, so it was a rather fun experience for all of them. Most had, in fact, quite forgotten that they were there to clean garbage. Well, they had until they heard Tom make a strangled, horrified sound behind them.

"Tom?" Harry called tentatively.

"Good lord! Muggles are disgusting! I charmed the collector to only send about one percent of the garbage to the ship! Just enough for pictures and so it would look good on paper! The hold is already half full and we've barely gone anywhere! Everyone get down there. We need to start sorting it now and getting rid of anything not useful or the damned ship might just explode from all the garbage piling up in it!" 

"WHAT?!!"

The kids scrambled after him down into the hold and groaned.

"Oh, yuck!" Justin said, wrinkling his nose.

"What is that smell?" Megan asked warily.

"Oh man. We better be getting paid good for this." Ron swore.

"Community service is for the birds." Millicent grumbled.

 

"That's the last of it. How's the ship look?" Tom asked tiredly.

"All clean, from what I can see. I keep smelling something funky…but it might just be me." Harry replied.

"You, me and all of us."

The truck drove off, taking their last haul away. The captain checked out the hold of his ship and then made ready to cast off again. The kids--weary, smelly and so, so glad this job was done, sunk to the ground one by one and leaned against each other in a miserable, stinky line.

"Never again. God. This was two weeks of hell. Who knew there was so much trash in the world?" Harry sighed.

"HA! The bulk of it went to the landfill. That was just a tiny, tiny fraction of it." Tom replied, sounding disgusted. 

Two weeks knee deep in river garbage had done little to endear muggles to him.

"After all that I'd better have enough for a fun time in Hogsmeade this year. I'm not asking for much." Ron grumbled.

They all glared tiredly at Colin, who was cheerfully taking pictures of their misery.

"Don't forget these need to be muggle photos." Justin reminded him.

"I know, don't worry."

"There's the van." Hannah pointed.

"Thank goodness. I want out of these stinky clothes." Hermione replied.

"And how" Megan agreed.

"Next time I want to do a summer job picking up garbage, someone shoot me." Ron muttered.

The kids peeled themselves up off the ground as the van drew up. Penny Clearwater--former Ravenclaw prefect and recent graduate-- was riding shotgun with the squib driver.

"Penny? What are you doing here?" Hermione asked curiously.

"Carl here complained about the stink. I'm here to de-stinkify you." she told them all cheerfully. She unobtrusively palmed her wand and hit each of the kids with a cleaning spell as they climbed in the van and then climbed back in herself.

"I thought you were going to be applying for jobs at the Ministry?" Fred asked Penny curiously as they headed into traffic.

"That was really Percy's idea. I wasn't too keen on it myself." she replied.

"Yeah, Percy's a bit weird like that. I doubt even the folks that established the Ministry loved it as much as he does." George snorted.

"Are you going to be making prank items?" Neville asked.

"No. Henry and Chris" who were two other seventh years who'd recently become part of the Garden like she had-- (fraternal) twin brothers, both Hufflepuffs-"are both going to be doing that. I'm actually going to be Sirius' administrative assistant and help him keep things organized. The pay is comparable to the Ministry, and I'll be getting my own office once HQ is done being built. I really lucked out. I haven't told Percy yet. I have a feeling he's going to be disappointed, but the Ministry is his dream, not mine, not to mention it would be a bit difficult to take classes if I was. I'd have to do it after work, which would have made for some long days." she explained. 

"You're going to University?" Hermione asked in interest. "A muggle one?"

"Ah, yeah." Penny agreed, suddenly realized she may have said too much.

"Really? What for?"

"Computer science. I guess we'll see how it works out." 

"And Sirius Black is willing to accommodate that?"

"Yeah, he's uh, real keen on education. But on to more exciting things. After you all get changed and cleaned up we've got a little party set up to celebrate the end of the project." Penny replied, trying to divert her.

"Yeah? Cool." Colin said enthusiastically.

"Excellent. Now that I don’t stink no more, I'm hungry." Ron said eagerly.

 

The parlor of Grimmauld Place was decorated when they all got back from showering and changing clothes, and a big banner reading 'No More Smelly River Junk' hung over the fireplace.  
Everyone had a good laugh about it, and even had a toast to celebrate the end of their garbage collecting days. 

"Before I forget. I believe you've all been waiting for these. Good work, everyone." Sirius announced as he began handing everyone a cashier's check for their wages.

Several of the kids choked when they got a look at it, a few other rubbed their eyes and took a second look.

"Does that say…"  
"Fifty? Sickles right?" Fred and George said in shock.

"Nope." Sirius said with some amusement. "Fifty galleons."

"Each? You don’t mean each. We have to split that, right?" Ron said suspiciously.

"No. You each get fifty. You can actually thank Harry's and Tom's initiative with the can collection for that. We haven't gotten the tallies back from all the stinky river crap you all just dumped on us, and that's going to take a while, so you're getting paid from the can collection instead. It was a good haul. The pubs must've been busy or something. We don't know yet what all came from the river, so it's possible you actually got a better paycheck this way."

"I know there were a lot of needles." Colin replied, still staring as his check in awe.

"We get a lot of those in the landfill too. What on earth do they use them all for?" Sirius wondered.

"Drugs, mostly, both regular medical use and for illegal, dangerous recreational drugs. That's why I told all of you to just vanish them and not get too close. A lot of them are likely disease ridden and full of traces of toxic substances." Harry explained.

"Yeuch." Hannah said with a shiver.

"Yeah." Neville agreed.

"Disgusting." Tom muttered.

"Anyway…there was some useful stuff. Bits of what we think might be ship wrecks, lots of good salvageable metal in those. Lots of plastic, so more petroleum. Some other stuff… so we'll see. Not bad for two weeks work." Sirius continued.

"You're telling me! An assistant manager at Flourish and Blotts makes about forty-two galleons a month!"

"Which means we probably shouldn't spread this around." Tom warned.

"Yeah, don't." Sirius agreed. "You got that much because the deal was that all of you would split your cut, it just happened to be a nice chunk of change after the company and the goblins took their cut. The folks working at the landfills all month are making monthly salaries, decent ones, but other places who don't make that much in a month would probably be irate…so don't go making them feel bad. I can't really take on any more workers right now." He went on to try to explain their windfall. "The stuff from the river, I don't know yet what kind of sale we'll get from it. It may not end up being as much, it may be more, who knows? The landfill, and the river aren't so straightforward as the can collections. As you saw yourselves, there's a lot of work involved getting to it. At the landfill there's a lot of digging involved to even get to the stuff, and that's even before we start sorting it out. About half of what's in there we have to vanish outright, the rest of it runs the gamut of really useful to eh, so the profits from it fluctuate quite a bit month to month. In the meantime, I have a whole slew of workers to pay, the goblins always get their cut since they're doing all the finagling to get it sold without raising a fuss anywhere, which leaves the company with what, if anything, is left over at the end of the day."

"Who cares? We got ours. Heh. And I was worried I wouldn't make enough to have a nice time in Hogsmeade all year!" Ron crowed.

"Exactly! Let's hear it for muggles…" Seamus began

"… and their garbage." the twins finished cheerfully.

"Hip, hip hooray." Tom said dryly, while spinning his finger in the air.

 

"What is this?" Hermione suddenly asked. She was prodding at a shifting rainbow-colored mass on one of the end tables. The colors and shape of the thing shifted as she prodded, and continued to do so when she picked it up. 

"OH! I've been looking for that!" Harry chirped cheerfully, ignoring the odd look Dean and Remus sent his way. "It's the Wankmaster 5000."

The thing in her hand shifted till it was bright green and yellow, and all long, bulbous tentacles. She screamed in horror, her hand reflexively spasmed, and she dropped it. She then began furiously wiping her hand on her shirt, until she realized all the guys in the room were laughing so hard they had tears in their eyes.

"Oh, man! You should have seen your face! Colin, tell me you got that!"

"Sure did, boss man!"

"I'm never gonna be able to look at that piece the same again." Dean complained between chortles. He reached out and punched Harry's arm, but he was too busy snickering to care. Ron and Neville's faces were both scarlet, but they were laughing as hard as everyone else.

"Ah, kiddo, your dad would be so proud. You saw the moment and seized it. Your mum, well, she probably would have sent you to your room for the summer…. Actually, on second thought, she'd have sent you outside to do chores…probably all day, in the open, where people could see you." Sirius chortled gleefully. He and Remus were both looking misty-eyed and reminiscent. 

Hermione grimaced and slapped Harry's other arm, then twice more for good measure. "I don’t believe you! That was…UGH!"

She glared at everyone that was still snickering as Dean retrieved the much abused thing from the ground and put it back on the end table. 

"What is that thing really?"

"It's an art project. It's part mood-ring, part lava lamp, with a bit of magic thrown in. Whoever is closest is who it responds to, so it's always just a bit different. Professor Lupin liked this one, so I gave it to him." 

 

Now that the ice was effectively broken, the party began in earnest. It was nice to just kick back and be a group of kids for once, rather than driven researchers trying to change the world. It was something they didn't do enough. In a way, it helped that Hermione was there, as it meant they couldn't talk about the project, and so had to relax and be goofy teenagers for once. In the last year, quidditch games and Hogsmeade weekends were the only time any of them really relaxed, so it was probably a good thing. Still, it couldn't be helped that there was some relief once Remus popped her off to her parents' house. She'd be going on vacation tomorrow, and so was well and truly out of their hair for the next two weeks.

"Since you're all here, you can get a sneak peek at the outer space simulation room. It's finally done." Sirius told all of them once they were gone.

Everyone was of course eager to see it. Sirius led them into the kitchen and then down to the sub-basement and through a new door that was down there. Most of the room was empty but for a neat pile of the communications group's equipment in one corner. The room had plain stone walls on three sides, and the last was a huge window, and from where they were standing it was like looking out into the asteroid field. It even looked like there were stars, planets and galaxies in the distance., past all the variably sized floating rocks.

"Whoa."

"Man. This must have taken forever!"

"Quite a bit of time, yeah. We've mostly been working on it on weekends. This here isn't a window, it's actually a permeable force-field. If you stand close to it you'll feel a bit of chill emanating out. We couldn't seem to completely seal it, and make it passable at the same time. It’s not too bad, just a bit of cold. Don't try to go in there. There's no air, and it's cold as balls, if you'll pardon me saying so…there's also very little gravity, so you'd probably start suffocating and freezing while you floated up and brained yourself on one of the big rocks. Ships only. No exceptions…. Not until protective gear is made and all, at least. The walls are actually just painted to look like stars and all, just to give it a more realistic feel."

"This is so unfair! I want to see the testing!" Draco whined. He and his parents were going on a short vacation starting the next day, and would be gone for two weeks.

"There's no guarantee we'll get it right the first time. We had a whole bunch of failure tests with the first few batches of action figures, and the first couple tries at mining. Plus, we have a lot of different equipment to test out. It will probably be a few days between tests so we can go over the readings, make tweaks as needed and try again. We might very well still be testing when you get back." Harry consoled him.

"Actually, you will be able to see it somewhat. I put a recording function into the corners of the room so we could playback any accidents and figure out what went wrong. If you really want to see you can watch the playback." Sirius offered the distraught boy.

"Plus, if you take your PDA with you, we'll probably be posting test results and readings each time, so you'll be able to keep up that way." Lee added.

"Don't forget we'll also be trying to unpack all the scans we took on Knowhere and trying to improve our ship design while we're at it. That will likely take a while too. The one we're going to be using for the testing is really just a glorified egg with some basic controls and a tiny thruster to move it places. It's not a real space ship by any stretch of the imagination, but we needed something to get the crew and the mining equipment from here to there." Sirius explained.

"Really though, this is amazing work. You two really outdid yourselves." Harry commented, looking at the simulation room with glee. They could finally start making real progress now that they had this.

"We do try." Remus said modestly when he reappeared, sans Hermione.

"Yeah, you kids aren't the only ones who can do cool magic. Us old folks still have a few tricks left."

 

They were all put to work setting up the communications group's equipment so it would be ready for the tests the following day, and then a hastily constructed set of bleacher seats was set up behind it, also facing the window/force field, so the rest of them could observe the testing in comfort and with a good view. By that point it was getting somewhat late, so everyone began preparing to go.  
Sirius pulled Neville aside as everyone was getting lined up for the floo.

"I wanted to run this by you before making any final arrangements. Barty Crouch will be staying here. I wanted to know if that would be alright with you."

"Um…why is Mr. Crouch going to be staying here…and why does it matter how I feel about it?"

"Not Barty Senior…Barty Junior." 

Neville stared at him blankly. "But…he's dead."

Now it was Sirius' turn to look blank. "Haven't you… You have no idea what I'm talking about do you?"

He looked around at the rest of them who were taking their time gathering their things and pretending not to be listening. "Alright, show of hands… Who knows about Barty Crouch Junior?"

The kids all exchanged glances and shrugged.

"What? None of you?"

"We've been kind of busy."

"You didn't hear about it in the great hall at meal time either?"

"Everyone at our section of the table is part of the Garden."

"Same here."

"Us too."

Sirius rubbed his face and had everyone gather around. "Back when we went to Azkaban to get rid of the dementors…"

"You said something about a Cassandra Crouch. Does this have something to do with that?" Tom asked curiously.

"Got it in one. Barty Junior, along with some mutual cousins of ours, the Lestranges, were all arrested shortly after the war ended…"

"For torturing my parents into insanity." Neville said quietly.

Sirius looked grim and nodded. "I was there when he was brought in. He wasn't long out of school, he was the same age as my brother Regulus. They were in the same year in Slytherin together. He spent the first night crying for his mum, then he got quiet. They always got quiet in the end." 

Several of the kids shivered as Sirius voice got raspy as he remembered his time there. 

"Some time later…I'm not sure how much later. Your sense of time used to get kind of wonky with all the dementors around sucking on your brain… Barty Senior and his wife, Cassandra came to visit him and then they left together… except apparently they didn't. Cassandra was dying, she never believed her son could have done what he was accused of, and she convinced Barty Senior to get him out. She took his place and died there, and her son left wearing her face. Barty believed him guilty, and mad, and quite evil… so he kept him under imperious beneath an invisibility cloak in his house the last few years. Naturally when I saw Cassandra, and the aurors heard she was there, they went and asked Barty senior some pointed questions. He wasn't too cooperative at first, but they wouldn't let it go and he finally broke and admitted what he'd done. He said Barty Jr. was mad, and he'd had to struggle to keep him under imperius--he kept fighting it, something he was puzzled about. He figured the peace of the imperius would be such a relief after Azkaban he would have just sunk down under it and let it be, but he fought tooth and nail to break free and had to keep being put back under. It was like that for years, and then suddenly, last Christmas" he added with a significant look to Harry and Tom "he suddenly stopped fighting and sunk down like his father had been expecting him to all along. He's been meek as a lamb since then."

"What happened last Christmas?" Millicent asked shrewdly. "You all know something, and you think it has some significance towards his behavior."

"Smart girl. That east European shmuck that became You-Know-Who did some really nasty dark magic to himself in an attempt to become immortal. He survived that night when the house blew up..." 

The kids, who had heard bits and pieces about the war and how awful it all was all gasped in fright.

"...until last Christmas when it was all undone. Now, knowing that this happened, and the timing of it, they took another look at him to see if there was something they missed the first time around, but it had been too many years and with Azkaban and the imperius between. So they dosed him up with veritaserum and questioned him. He has no memory of the torture. The last thing he remembers is hanging out with the Lestranges the night Voldemort blew up, and then the next thing he remembers is watching the trial of Igor Karkaroff, and being named as a death eater and part of the Longbottom torture. He was seized and hauled off on Karkaroff's word, and his wand was checked. They found evidence on his wand that he was involved and he was just shipped off to Azkaban to serve the same sentence as the Lestranges, who quite cheerfully confessed to the crime."

"But he didn't remember being there or being part of things?" Neville asked.

"No, and before they were hauled in and questioned, no one that had been captured or tried made any mention of any of the Lestranges being part of things. They were fervent supporters, but they weren't death eaters, not marked, so far as anyone could tell. As near as they've been able to reconstruct the order of events, he and the Lestranges were at their house when Voldemort blew up. The four of them went off searching for the Longbottoms and tortured them looking for information on what happened to him. The Longbottoms had been in hiding and didn't know anything, so they decided to go looking for you." He looked at Harry. "Barty was sent off to ask his father where you were and said the Lestranges wanted to adopt you. Barty gave them the address and he went in to work that day like usual. The Lestranges killed someone on your front lawn..."

"Was it a mailman? Was he in pieces?" Harry asked slowly.

"You remember that?"

"Not until you just said that."

"They apparated right to the front lawn, startled the man, who tossed the letters he was carrying and they got startled in turn and opened fire. You had already been placed with your aunt and some basic wards had been set up to alert the Ministry if any wizards approached the property. They were captured and proudly confessed what they had done while searching for Voldemort. One of the anchors to keep Voldemort alive…ish… had been given to Bellatrix and Rodolphus as a wedding present. The Unspeakables think it might have been that the soul piece was aware of the backlash when the rest of him blew up and panicked and seized control of him. He doesn't have any real memory of taking part in the torture. He seems to have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Bones and Scrimgeour decided if he'd been controlled in some way that he should be released. Barty Senior, because he broke his son out of Azkaban and used an unforgivable against him for years was facing time in Azkaban himself. He wasn't real keen on that and tried to escape. He had a heart attack during the kerfluffle and died. Barty Junior was put in Saint Mungo's. He's been there the last six months. I offered to take him in. No one's real keen to leave him on his lonesome. He's got a lot of issues that were never resolved, and with his parents both dead, never will be. He wasn't long out of Hogwarts when he went in, and between the dementors and the imperius… I've sort of been where he is right now, and he is my cousin. If having him around is going to be too uncomfortable for you, cousin Cissy said she could take him in, and Andi said the same….though that solution has its own problems as they're Bella's sisters and the three of them look a lot alike, they just have slightly different coloring, which is why Cissy's the first choice. Her coloring is different enough that it isn't as obvious at first glance."

"When is he getting out?"

"On Monday." 

"Won't it be kind of awkward having him around though? We're going to be working." Seamus pointed out.

"Yeah, well…Barty Senior was one of the investors. He inherited his shares when his dad died. He got twelve OWLs. Smart cookie that kid. I thought having a big project to help out on would keep his mind off things, get him invested in living again. That's if he even comes out of his room. He's not been very responsive to visitors…. Though he was doing a bit better before they put him in the long term care ward. They moved him back to spell damage because of well,…yeah."

Neville winced and felt an unwanted stab of pity for the guy. How horrible to be told you had done something terrible, and then be stuck looking at what you'd wrought, day after day. 

"I need to think about this."

"Sure kid. Just let me know though. We need to know where he's going. After everything else, I'd rather not play musical houses with the guy on top of it." 

 

"Damn. Still need to work on our landings. They are getting better though." Vince mused.

"I just wish we could get past the landings so we could start testing the mining equipment already. This is excruciating." Theo grumbled.

"Not to mention it's not even a real spaceship, just a simplified model so we can test the mining stuff. If they can't handle this super-simplified ship, how are they going to handle a real one?" Pansy grumbled.

"It's their first time trying to land on a rotating object, and they still haven't quite gotten the hang of the practically no-gravity thing. I think they're doing well, all things considered." Goyle said defensively.

"I guess. It's still frustrating."

"Yeah. Let's bring them back. Vince, Greg, you've been making notes, right? Try and tweak them a bit and we'll try again after lunch." Harry interjected calmly. He was as frustrated as the rest, but it would do no good to show it. Everyone was tense enough as it was.

"Sure thing, Harry." 

"Don't lose heart, everyone. We've had setbacks before, and we've overcome them. The living astronauts who go into space have to undergo years of training before they're considered fit for space travel, and they, unlike our heroic little space figures, can come up with new actions on the fly. This is why we're doing this, remember? So we can work out the kinks beforehand, so when we actually send them out there they can actually do their jobs. Be patient. We've got this." Harry addressed the room.

"Actually…if all of you want, I thought we could go take a look at the location of our future corporate headquarters." Sirius offered, hoping to dispel some of the mounting frustration.

"It's already being built?!" Ron said in surprise.

"No. Right now the world cup stadium is being built there. That Umbridge tried to pull a fast one on me. The ministry already has all their cleared landfills being formed into villages. They didn't have any place to put the stadium when we won the world cup, so Umbridge tried to have them put it up on my land and thought the ministry would not only not pay me for the use of it, but that anyone who put up booths or set up campsites would pay the ministry for the right to use my land instead of me. Well, I put a stop to that right quick. The ministry is renting the land for the use of the stadium. I have to "dispose of it" once it's no longer useful, at my own expense. I fought her on that, only to give in with little grace. I didn't want her to know I had plans for that thing once the world cup is over and we don't need it anymore. Anyone who puts up a booth has to pay me a small fee and so do all the campers. I in turn have to pay a tax to the Ministry for the event, and pay for a few aurors and a healer or two to be available for the duration, but that's fine. Once the world cup is over and everyone has cleared out, that stadium--all or parts of it-- is going to form the basis of the new corporate headquarters. Having it already there to add to will save us considerable expense."

An excited babble broke out among all the kids at the news.

"It's already finished?"

"Actually it's about three-quarters done or more. There's 500 wizards working around the clock on it, so it will be ready in time for the game next month."

"I'd like to see it."

"Yeah, me too."

"Alright. We'll have lunch and then we'll head over. I'll have Kreacher put one of those cabinets there so we don't have to try and wrangle a port key or take the Knight bus. I'm awesome, but apparating all of you is a bit beyond the limits of my greatness." 

 

Everyone eagerly lined up to finally go see one of the landfills they'd heard so much about--though one, happily, free of any muggle garbage. 

"I was told, after I got hold of this place, that it was known as 'the most contaminated spot in Britain'. It was being dumped in by a couple of muggle companies that are apparently pretty infamous for leaving really nasty messes everywhere they go and then dumping the cleanup on the government before flitting off to go make a new mess elsewhere. The muggles were real eager to get rid of it. It would have cost them a mint to clean up. Don't look so worried. It's clean…and we were careful while we were doing it. This whole area has been gone over very carefully to make sure all the contaminants are gone, and they are. This part of the world is a much cleaner, safer place by far because we intervened. As you can see, we planted a bunch of trees all around the site, up on the ridge there, to provide some camouflage and cover. We left up the fence and the signs warning people away and telling them it's toxic, added some muggle-repelling wards, a bit of illusion overhead, and some subtle wards to make people certain it's dangerous here, but not in any interesting way so they won't be inclined to come wandering by to peek, and a sound muffling ward so no one will hear the crowds for the world cup and decide to come investigate anyway."

"Where are we anyway?"

"Wales. This used to be a limestone quarry before it became a landfill. You should have seen the place, it was disgusting. The water was poisoned, the ground, so much waste everywhere… but look at the stream now. Pure, clean, safe to drink water. That's not just magic saying so either. Ted took some samples to some muggle scientist to run some scans on. He said it was the cleanest water he'd ever seen." 

"Limestone erodes away pretty quickly. Was it really a good idea to build here?" Justin asked, concerned.

"I should have said it was a spent quarry. The limestone was mostly gone. We shored up the area and made the foundations granite and protected them from erosion and all before we started building. We know, even if Umbridge doesn't, that we're planning to use this place once the World Cup is gone, and as we don’t know how long it will be before we start colonizing other planets, we want it to last for a while."

"Nice work." 

"Come on, just around here and you'll see it." 

The kids gasped and oohed at the stadium--even only almost-finished it was a rather impressive structure. They wandered around a bit to get a better look at the locale. The herbology buffs took notes on ideas for landscaping, Colin took lots of pictures. Once their curiosity had been satisfied and their enthusiasm rekindled they headed back to Grimmauld Place with lighter hearts, eager to begin another test. 

 

Harry took a moment to chat with Neville before he left that night.

"So…I hear we're getting a house guest. You're sure you're alright with him being here?"

Neville nodded resolutely. 

"I had a long talk with my gran about it. She couldn't believe I just found out. It took us awhile to get to it--she thinks the twelve OWL thing is too much for me if I'm so out of it that I didn't notice all the talk and rumors going around… but anyway. She said she wasn't too keen to be forgiving at first, even if he was technically a victim as well, with what happened to my parents, especially because it happened right at the end, just when everyone thought they were safe. They had just come out of hiding. She told them it was safe, and now they're in the hospital for life with no chance of recovery."

Harry looked away and gave Neville a moment to compose himself. 

"She said she changed her mind because of what happened when they put him in long term care. He was doing as well as could be expected before that, but when he got stuck in there with them, saw what had happened to them, he just shut down. He stopped talking, barely ate--they ended up spelling stuff directly to his stomach so he wouldn't starve. Once they realized what the problem was they moved him back to spell damage. She heard the story from a friend of hers that works there. Until then, she said, she was thinking of him as an evil torturer, sitting around gloating that he'd escaped punishment while my mum and dad never could escape what was done to them. She said she realized then that no, he was a victim too, and she needed to remember that. She said it was stuff like that, people being controlled, you didn't know who to trust, that makes people still jump and get twitchy, why they don't want to talk about or even think about the war. She said mum and dad may not ever recover, but he had a chance to, even after losing so many years of his life to Azkaban and his own father's imperius, and that since he was a victim as well he deserved that chance. We went to see him. We told him we forgave him for the part he played, and now he just needed to forgive himself. It was pretty awful, really, but I'm glad we did it. We heard later that he asked one of the healers for some water a few hours after we left. It'll be weird, probably for both of us, but I think I can deal."

"That was a good thing you did. I think a lot of people might not have been able to, even knowing he was a victim too."

"I think it was easier for me. I didn't know him before, and I don't really remember my parents. To me, he was just the sad, slightly broken guy in the hospital. Gran knew my parents, of course, and she knew him too. She said she just needed to remember the boy he was to banish the image of the mad torturer she'd built up in her mind all these years. His mum was her friend before everything. After everything that happened, well, obviously they weren't so friendly anymore. She was furious with her for saying her son was innocent. They had at least one nasty blowout about the whole thing, she refused to acknowledge her existence for years. She only acknowledged Barty Senior because he's the one who put him in prison. She said that maybe now she could let go of some of that anger, and remember the girl she used to be friends with long ago." 

"I wonder if Mrs. Crouch will end up being a valkyrie too?" suddenly wondered.

"Huh?"

"Well, think about it. She probably had few if any friends left after everything, and she and her husband were probably at odds as well. She probably had a sad and rather lonely life after the war…and then she was dying, and willingly walked into hell on earth to save her son, even after everything because she believed in him. I'm glad he was innocent. It would have been terrible if he'd been the mad torturer everyone thought he was and she had died in Azkaban trying to save an unrepentant madman." 

"Yeah. That would have been awful." 

 

Barty Crouch Junior arrived with little fanfare early Monday morning. He was a tall, thin fellow, with a thatch of straw-blonde hair and dark eyes. He seemed both nervous and subdued when he arrived, and not too inclined to company. He said hello, made a bit of small talk and then sought his room. Sirius went with him to show him where it was, and returned a few minutes later looking sad.

"He's not real used to crowds, I guess. I told the elves to check in on him every so often, and to let me know if he comes out again. I guess we just give him space and let him get acclimated." 

"For now, sure. Give him a chance to settle in. I don't think we should let it go on too long though. He was under imperius and under and invisibility cloak for years. It might do him some good to be reminded people can see him and would like his company." Remus objected.

"It probably would, but at the same time I don't want to push our presence on him. I'd like it to be his choice. He's had a lot of choices taken away from him." 

"Fair enough, but if he hides away too long, we should make a point to knock and ask him if he wants to join us so he remembers there is a choice." 

 

The students started arriving not long after, and soon everyone was immersed in the latest batch of test runs in the deep space simulation room. Sirius was told later by the elves that Barty had emerged briefly to get something to eat and then had gone back to his room.  
This pattern repeated for the next week. Except for the elves' reports and the fact they could sometimes hear him moving around, one would never know there was another person living in the house. He only emerged at odd times to get food and missed the group meals they had. Sirius was worried, but continued to insist they give him his space and let him make the decision to join everyone. Remus didn't like it but agreed to do things his way for a few more days, and then insisted they try to draw him out. 

 

When Barty did finally decide to rejoin the world, he did so in a big way. 

As had become the custom over the previous days, everyone was gathered in the deep space simulation room for another test run. They had made several tweaks over the previous days and were hoping today would be the day of success. 

They were all so intent on watching the simulated asteroid field, and the communication team's monitors that it actually took them all a few minutes to even realize he was there. He had evidently heard their voices while on one of his sandwich runs and had come to investigate. He'd been rather confused by what he saw when he peeked inside--a window to outer space, and a bunch of kids with strange machines, and more sitting on bleachers. 

He sidled closer to get a better look and realized there was something out there flying around. They kids were all staring at the flying ship tensely, as though they could speed it along with sheer strength of will. As it got closer to the largest stone flying in the void there, the kids slowly tensed and began muttering "come on" and "you can do it" under their breaths, while slowly leaning forward in their seats. 

He could admit he was puzzled. He had seen less intensity at a world cup game than these children were exhibiting right now. There was an electric feeling in the air. He found himself rooting for the little ship as well, and wondering what was going to happen next. Did the ship have to navigate the field and not touch anything? Were monsters going to pop out? What was going on? The ship drew closer and closer to its target. The children leaned forward and clutched at each other's hands--most of them didn't even seem to realize they were doing it. Heck, the little girl seated next to him was clutching his arm, and without so much as a by-your-leave. She'd never so much as glanced at him. 

"Go on." one of the boys whispered.  
"You can do it." a girl said a moment later.  
"Come on, boys." two burly fellows said next.  
"They matched orbits."  
"Come on…come on…"  
"Slow and steady boys…"  
"That's it…that's it…" 

**"The eagle has landed!"**

The kids leapt to their feet cheering and whistling. The sound was infectious. Barty found himself laughing and clapping as well.

"Is it some kind of movie?" he asked the little girl next to him. "I'm so excited and I don't know why…what's going on?"

Everyone began to register that a voice that shouldn't be there was in fact there in the room with them and began to fall silent. Before things had a chance to get awkward, Harry stood up. 

"We'll tell you all about it, but first you have to do something."

"Oh? What's that?"

"Pinky swear." 

"O-kaaay. If it's that important to you." 

As Harry led him through the oaths, the rest of them began lining up for their turn. They knew the drill by this point. Barty was bemused by the impromptu oath he took, puzzled when he had to do it again…and again…and again…

"Uh, how many of you are there?"

"Enough. Luckily for you, everyone's here but Draco. You'll just have to get him when he comes back from vacation."

By the time he got to the end of the line, Barty was positively burning with curiosity.

"Alright. Got all the pinkies lined up. What's going on?"

"This is the wizarding world's first space program. That's not a movie, it's the other half of this room. It's our deep space simulation room. The ship you saw flying around is a ship we built. It's piloted by a crew of action figures. If you look out there now you'll see the rest of the action figures have begun mining the asteroid they landed on. Once we've run enough tests and simulations we're going to send a ship out to actual space to mine asteroids to fund a full-scale ship for people to travel on. Our end plan is to find and colonize another planet for wizards, the whole magical world really, to live on." 

Barty looked around at all the young teens surrounding him, not a one of them looked like they were out of Hogwarts yet.

"Wow. Suddenly my twelve OWLs don't seem so impressive."

 

After that, Barty Junior became a bit of a fixture around the simulation room. He would usually sit off to the side in the back, keeping one ear on the testing while he slowly made his way through the files on the PDA and took notes. He was introduced to the uni in a globe and got a chance to sit in on some classes--though at first only ever while at least one other person was there to take a class with him, as they were all afraid of him having a breakdown if he forgot it was an illusion and tried to call the teacher or one of the students only to be ignored like he was still invisible.  
He was a smart guy, and the space program proved the perfect thing to get his mind off his troubles. 

Draco finally arrived back from his vacation, frazzled and on edge. He stopped short when he came in and saw Barty.

"Um…who is that?"

"Barty Crouch Junior. He's our cousin. He's part of the group now. He's going to help from now on. That reminds me, you need to do your pinkie swear. Everyone else has already done it." Harry replied. 

He sighed and marched over, holding out his pinkie. When they were done, he got enraged.

"Salazar on a stick! Is that all it was?! I've been going crazy for days! I felt like I'd forgotten something and it's been weighing on me this whole time! ARGH! I've been going through my notes and my books and my HOMEWORK, trying to figure out what it was! I thought I was going crazy!" When he stopped ranting, he realized everyone was staring at him. "I'm NOT, so stop looking at me like that! Now…what have I missed?"


	2. Summer Part II- The Quidditch World Cup

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Garden Group and the corporation head to the Quidditch World Cup where Sirius and Lucius engage in wheeling and dealing, new plans are made, and the kids and Barty each point out ways to make some of their ongoing research profitable on Earth.

The summer had flown by like nothing, and before they knew it, it was already time for the world cup. Those who weren't going took their leave, to get their school shopping done and relax for the last week of summer. The rest gathered one last time at Grimmauld Place.

"All right, kiddies, we'll see all of you at the world cup. My tent's already set up I'm at site 28, so just look for us. I brought along a few workrooms, so we needn't waste the week we're stuck there." Sirius announced.

"Good. I need to keep up on those classes if I'm to be of any use to the rest of you." Barty nodded.

"Our dad has tickets. Our whole family is coming, but they're not going to arrive till the day before the game. We told him we'd just meet him there. We need time to set up our booth and sell stuff. Mum likely won't be too thrilled…"  
"…but he already gave permission, so he's the one that'll be stuck listening to her yelling about it." Fred and George explained.

"I'm coming with you too, otherwise I'll just be stuck with Ginny all week trying to find out what we're all up to." Ron agreed.

"Daddy and I will be at our own campsite. He's already been there for a week, so I'll be going with you. He has several friends that will be there, so I should be able to slip off to help out at least some of the time." Luna added.

"My family's been there for a while too. I'll be going with you as well." Megan agreed.

"Same here."  
"I'm going." Millicent and Theo echoed.

"Me too." Neville agreed.

"My dad's arriving the day before the game, so I'm going too."

"We'll be running a booth." Colin spoke up.

"We're helping them." The Hendricks brothers of Hufflepuff sounded off as well.

"They give you a map when you arrive. We can mark everyone's campsites so we'll all know how to find each other." Sirius offered.

"My father got us seats in the Minister's box. We don't actually have to be there until the day of the game, but we're going early to help you hobnob with foreign investors." Draco announced proudly.

"And I do appreciate it. I seem to be good at it, but I don't really enjoy it the way your dad seems to." Sirius nodded.

"We'll be arriving early too, but I don't know how often we'll be able to get away." Seamus explained. "My mum hasn't been too thrilled with my 'summer job'. If we're gone too often she might come over to give you a piece of her mind about it."

"I'm staying with them." Dean added. "So same goes for me."

"Geez. I don't get your mothers. You'd think they'd be happy you're off being productive and staying out of trouble." Sirius grumbled.

The kids who were heading to the world cup site later on left. Those who would be attending with Sirius left through a cabinet which left them out inside Sirius' tent at the site.

"Geez. Your family didn't mess around when it came to travelling, did it? This looks like a house." Lee whistled.

"It works on the same principles the actual house does. Rooms can be added, removed and rearranged. There's kitchen, workrooms for the folks making the last of the prank items, and souvenirs for the photo for sale, a couple of bathrooms, a small dining room, ballroom, parlor and study on the ground floor. There's bedrooms and a few bathrooms for all of us--you'll have to double up, I'm afraid--and a parlor and dining room on this floor. The third floor is a couple of workrooms and a big meeting room. I've got access blocked to anyone not part of the group from the second floor on up. The downstairs is for all the hobnobbing to go on, places to work, make deals and so on. Upstairs is just for the R & D department."

"Sounds good. I guess we'll go get settled in." Harry said cheerfully.

 

A wall of noise hit the kids as they exited the tent. They could only look around in amazement. It was the largest gathering of wizards any of them had ever seen. In every direction, as far as the eye could see were witches and wizards of many nations, and all manner of fantastical tents.

"Hot damn. I thought some of the other tents were wacky; look at the one we just came out of!" Bernard laughed.

Had it been a muggle tent it would have been one intended for a dozen people or so. It was solid black, it had a moat and a drawbridge, as well as a tall tower in the center from which flew a black and silver flag with the Black family coat of arms. A couple of torches with silver flames were mounted to either side of the drawbridge/door.

Off in the distance were more colorful tents, of all makes and styles. In one direction a multi-colored silken pavilion with the sides rolled up to show several wizards reclining on cushions and sharing a hookah, further off were what looked to be a series of hills covered in shamrocks--obviously the Irish camp. In the other direction were groups of African wizards in colorful tents, gathered around campfires with purple flames.

The Bulgarian camp was filled with rigid lines of tents, many of which sported giant photos of the Bulgarian seeker, Victor Krum, who seemed to be glowering unhappily at the passers-by. There was so much to see they weren't sure which direction to look in first. The smell of hundreds of different exotic spices from everyone's cook fires hung in the air and perfumed the whole area. They passed an elegant camp full of French visitors, saw a large sprawling camp from India, China… there was even a small camp from the Americas. They seemed a friendly bunch, if loud. They seemed to have started celebrating early.

There was a whole area filled with booths selling merchandise--posters and pennants and funny hats, snack foods, and action figures. There was a medical tent set up. There were a few people in there, getting cuts and bruises seen too--probably a fight that had gotten out of control. They saw tiny witches and wizards hovering on child-sized brooms, chasing after pets, or colorful bubbles while their parents chatted with their neighboring camp sites. There were a few aurors patrolling and keeping an eye on things, but thus far the atmosphere was festive and filled with anticipation.

In the center of the whole vast encampment stood the World Cup stadium. It had vast gold walls, and it was huge--ten cathedrals would probably comfortably fit inside the thing. There were some banners hanging from it announcing the official sponsors--Butterbeer, Gringott's Bank, Nimbus 2001, and Explorer's Inc. Colin, naturally, started taking pictures of it as soon as he lay eyes on it.

"That's going to be headquarters? Damn. We're really moving up in the world." Cedric said faintly.

"Could you use the sides of the stadium for your vertical farms? That would be rather pretty, don't you think?" Kendall suddenly spoke up.

"If we could manage it, we'd grow enough food to feed all of Britain twice over." Neville mused, looking at the sheer size of the place.

"Well…we did say it could feed us and the excess be sold off as trade goods. We could certainly do that with so much space to work with. Not to mention it will provide jobs for a lot of farmers to keep an eye on everything." Morag pointed out.

 

"There, that should do it I think, right mate?" Ron asked hopefully. The rest of them had scattered at the first opportunity, but Harry wanted to go over the tests and tweak their equipment so it would work better next time.

"I think we should go over everything again and check to make sure it's all holding properly." Harrry disagreed.

"Oh, come on, mate! We're at the quidditch world cup!"

"And we'll be at the quidditch world cup tomorrow, and the day after…and the day after that, since that's when the game is."

"Harry! When are we going to get a chance like this again? Aren't you even curious?"

"Of course I am, but I also don't want the rock eater to fall apart during the next test. We'll have plenty of time to go look around."

"Are you serious? Come onnnnn!"

"Ron, I'd like to get these things launched to actual space sometime in the next decade. How about you come on." Harry grumbled.

Ron fidgeted a bit and then abruptly stood.

"Whatever, mate. I'm gonna go look around."

Harry grit his teeth, but he continued what he was doing. Now, he was going to have to go over Ron's half of things too and double check them, which meant he himself wasn't going to get a chance to look around any time soon.

 

"Everything alright in here?"

"Tom? Yeah. Everything's fine. Ron's just being an ass. He wants to go look around. Now I have to go over his stuff too. I had to redo the enchantments on a couple of the parts of this one because the changes we made didn't work properly. I'm going to be in here all day because Ron decided to be irresponsible."

Tom settled himself in Ron's empty seat and started looking over the machinery.

"You're going to have to go over every part and make sure it all hangs together properly. There should be a list over there of the changes we made."

"Don't worry. I've got this."

"I know you do, it's just Ron. He's probably going to blow all the money he made recycling on junk souvenirs, and then he'll be whining all year when he doesn't have anything left for Hogsmeade and then he'll get all surly and resentful of me being a 'rich bastard'. HA. I grew up way poorer than he did, even though my relatives were fairly well off. Yeah, there's a lot of gold in my trust fund, but only because I haven't had a lot of expenses besides Hogwarts. It won't last too long once I'm out of school and having to support myself if there's nothing more coming in. Ron seems to think I'm going to inherit a vast fortune when I come of age since my parents haven't been around spending money the last twelve, thirteen years. Nope. My dad was supporting the Order of the Phoenix and pretty much bankrupted himself and my mum doing so. Everything they had left my mum transferred into my trust fund and then locked it down. Only she, my dad or I was supposed to get access. She tried getting Dumbledore removed from access to their vault, but only my dad was allowed to do that, so she hid everything they had left in my trust fund right before they went into hiding. A little bit of money started to pile up from investments since then, but it's not much at all."

"Is that why you're so determined to make money?"

"Partly it's because I know there's a nice sum waiting, but not enough to support me indefinitely, but also I've been told my whole life what a burden I am. I know the Dursleys are scum, but it's still there in my head. Mostly it's about the space program though. I really want to see it succeed…which is why I'm in here going over machinery instead of out there having fun with the international crowd. I had thought Ron was just as determined, but apparently not."

"It isn't just him. We've lost everyone but Barty. The twins, and the Creeveys and those Hufflepuff brothers that are helping them…"

"The Hendricks?"

"Yes. They went off to set up their booths. Luna and her dad wandered off to do Quibbler stuff. Malfoy ran off to hobnob with the investors, but his dad sent him away so he ended up coming back. He's off draped across a couch in the parlor. Parkinson is patting his hand and fussing over him while Crabbe and Goyle fetch him snacks."

"Why do they indulge him like that?"

"Because he's insufferable if they don't."

"He's such a diva."

"Agreed. Everyone else took off at first opportunity."

"I'm still here because our equipment didn't perform quite as well as I'd hoped during testing. Why are you still here?"

Tom was silent for long enough that Harry wondered if he was going to answer at all, but finally he did, though it was in parseltongue.

  
_"I might be…hiding."_

  
_"Why are you hiding?"_

  
_"He is fearful of the one who used to rule his nest. He is very fat. Perhaps he fears to be eaten? You are strong though. You can defeat him."_ Nagini offered.

  
" _The one who…_ Your head of house?" Harry guessed. _"Why are you hiding from him?"_

_"He's the one who told me what a soul prison was."_

  
When Harry just looked at him, he decided to explain.

" _The memories I got from Voldemort. I made a portrait with them. He's in a leather folder in my trunk, so he can't go anywhere. I might end up vanishing it anyway. He's kind of an asshole. Anyway, the portrait told me. Dumbledore still doesn't believe that any 'east European refugee' stole my identity, though he seems to have let it go since all that business at Azkaban. Chances are Sluggy won't believe it either. He was a rather silly man, very full of himself. He's a shameless suck-up and adores name-dropping…overindulgent and rather pretentious… He's not stupid though, and he's going to wonder."_

Tom was quiet for a while, his face pensive.

_"He was good to me. Thought the world of me, to be honest."_

_"And you're afraid of destroying his good opinion of you?"_

  
_"I probably already did though I don't remember it. The portrait said he was frightened and horrified when I mentioned seven."_

_"If he's here, chances are he's hoping to be able to banish that memory. He's probably hoping it really was some weird refugee if he thought as well of you as you think he did. You should go say hi to him."_

  
Tom seemed rather torn about the whole thing. He didn't reply, he just kept on with what he was doing. Harry considered the machine he was working on a moment and set it aside, then moved to stand behind Tom.

  
_"Come on. Let's go see him. The sooner you get it over with the happier you'll be. If you keep putting it off, you're going to get yourself all worked up for no reason."_

  
_"What about this? It needs to be done."_

  
_"We're going to be here a couple of days. We can't do anymore tests until after the game. We've got time, which is probably what Ron was trying to remind me of earlier. We'll go say hi and then go wander around and see the sights."_

  
When they went out to head down, they found Barty sitting alone in the middle room, fiddling with…

"What are you doing with that squid?"

  
"It's the test ship."

  
"Why does it look like a squid?" Tom asked patiently.

  
"First off, why make it look like any other ship? Gets a bit boring, don't you think? Secondly, it's for camouflage. It looks like an animal, not a ship. Others are more likely to leave it be, thinking it's some freaky space monster and not a ship at all. It's small too. They'll likely be worried about where his mum is and decide to leave it be. Mostly it was just because I thought it'd be fun." Barty explained. "So, we're losing you two as well? I'm disappointed in you all. I thought you were a dedicated bunch!"

  
"We are. Perhaps too dedicated. We're going to be here a few days. We've all been working hard, pretty much nonstop. We figured we deserved a short break to stop and figuratively smell the roses. Plus we're going to go say hello to the old Slytherin head of house, who's apparently here."

  
"Old Sluggy's here? I haven't seen that old fusspot in years. He probably took me going to prison pretty hard. He took quite a shine to me while I was in school."

  
"Me as well."

  
"Oh? Heh. Poor old Sluggy. He has to have spent the last decade or two questioning his life choices if that's the case. Thought you were a mad dark lord, thought I was a mad torturer, thought good old Siri was a mad bomber…" Barty snickered.

  
"Would you like to come with us? We're not likely to get too much work done until the novelty has worn off."

  
"Why not? I was getting bored lurking around here all on my lonesome."

 

There was a small crowd in the ballroom when they peeked inside. They'd been able to hear everyone's voices as they came down the stairs. It was a rather mixed bunch. Here an African wizard, there a Chinese witch, over there a group of Indian wizards, the rest likely from different parts of Europe and the Mediterranean. In the middle of them all stood Sirius, Remus and Lucius, along with a short, rotund man with a bushy moustache that made him look rather like a walrus… In fact, he kind of reminded him of Uncle Vernon, though he seemed a more laidback, cheerful sort than Vernon by far.  
The man, who Harry assumed was "Old Sluggy", spotted them first, and his eyes widened. Sirius and Lucius turned to see what he was looking at and beckoned them over.

  
"My…word. It's one thing to read about it, but to actually… It's really you, isn't it? My dear, dear boy, you have no idea how happy I am to see you! For years I was…" Slughorn seemed to change what he was about to say mid-sentence "but nevermind that. You're here and healthy and…you look well, my boy. You look happy. You have no idea how glad I am to see it."

He stared at Tom searchingly for a long moment.

"So…some _east European refugee_ snuck in and took over your life? It sounds like the plot of a poorly-constructed novel. I'll say this much for the fellow, whoever he was" he gave Tom another searching look "he was a damn fine actor. Any…strangeness was such that one could put it off to you getting older…people change, yes…not always for the better, sadly enough."

  
Tom fidgeted just a bit beneath his gaze, which sharpened on him. Slughorn's eyes widened just slightly, only noticeable if you were looking for it, but then his gaze grew puzzled and somewhat bemused

"But here you are, and that man is gone for good…so I hope?"

  
"Yes, quite gone, never to trouble the world again." Tom agreed firmly.

  
"Good, good. I like you much better than that, ahem, _east European refugee_. Good riddance." Slughorn replied, equally firm.

Tom, for a moment looked the slightest bit sheepish, but his voice was steady when he nodded and agreed "Good riddance."

  
Slughorn turned to Barty next and his smile was once again delighted.

"Bartemius, dear boy, I must say I am happy to see you as well. Poor thing. Your life's been quite an ordeal. Let us hope you have some good luck coming your way to balance it out. I don't mind telling you I've had a terrible time of it these twenty years or so… I kept wondering where it all came from. I've always prided myself on being a good judge of character and well… Hmm. Enough said on that, I think. I must say I feel rather vindicated these days. It seems I was in fact a decent judge of character. It's a shame everyone else isn't." he added with a sniff.

Slughorn turned to Harry then, expectantly and with a smile.

  
"Ah, Horace Slughorn, Harry Potter. He's my little brother these days…" Tom introduced. Harry however shook his head sadly.

"Sorry, Tom, but I was adopted first, that makes me the big brother. You're actually the baby of the family…after me and Sirius. Don't worry, I've promised myself to look after you both, keep you on the straight and narrow…"

  
"I'm older than you. We're _both_ older than you."

  
"Details." Harry dismissed with an airy wave of his hand.

  
Slughorn laughed delightedly, and his smile turned a bit sad and nostalgic.

"Ah, my boy, you remind me of your mother. She was one of my favorites, you know. Lovely girl, smart…so _cheeky_. You got that from her… though honestly, your father was a cheeky rascal as well. You come by it honestly either way." he chuckled again.

  
Tom got Harry in a headlock and began knuckling his head, but Harry just laughed at him and poked him in the side until he squirmed, a weakness he'd discovered quite by accident and was always quite willing to take advantage of. They began doing a bit of an odd dance in place as they began kicking each other's shins, each trying to get the other to stop. Sirius snorted and grabbed them both by the back of the neck like unruly pups and marched them to the door.

"Alright, that's enough. Get lost, you two."

  
Harry and Tom glanced at each other and each attacked one of Sirius' ticklish spots and then ran away laughing when he yelped and jumped away from them. Barty, not wanting to be left out, popped up behind Sirius and tickled his sides, then ran off after the other two, cackling, when he jumped and yelped again.

 

 

After their abrupt exit from the tent earlier, Tom, Harry and Barty had started wandering around the campsites. They had stumbled across Luna and her dad interviewing several African wizards, who all seemed to have purple flames on their campfires. When asked why, they admitted it was to remove muggle toxins from their food. They had ended up staying for a while and joining in the discussion--Tom was, frankly, a bit paranoid about muggle pollution, so it was a subject near and dear to his heart. Barty and Harry got interested when informed that they had done studies in Wogodogo--known to muggles as Burkina Faso-- that linked rising muggle pollution with the decline of health and shortened lifespans in nearby wizards.

  
"Muggle pesticides and such have bad effects on everyone, but it seems more pronounced in wizards. Obviously there are different levels depending on where you are, in some places the problem isn't chemicals, it's soot and dust, in others it is mostly exhaust from all their automobiles. It didn't used to be a problem. We live separately in our own places, but as the number of muggles increases so does their industrialization, and so does the resulting pollution. If it stayed in their places and only bothered them, we would say it was their problem and leave them to it, but it doesn't stay with them. It is in the water, in the air, in the soil. A team had noted that wizards and witches were not living as long as our ancestors once did, and they decided to try to find out why. For a long time the answer proved elusive. We were not living substantially differently than our ancestors did, and in many ways we were better off, so why were we not as healthy? Why were we not as long lived? There was much consternation indeed when the answer was that the muggles were poisoning the earth and dirtying the air to such a degree that it was building up in all of us. These flames are now used by all the witches and wizards of Wogodogo, they came up with their own solutions in other places. They burn away all the impurities. We put charms on the vessels we collect our water in to do the same, charm the pots we cook in as well, the flames do not reach anything but meat cooked directly on the flames. Since these plans were implemented we have seen a marked increase in the health and lifespans of our population."

  
"Tom has been doing stuff like that here." Luna informed them. "The archway where all the portkeys arrived that you were made to walk through strips muggle contaminants out of your body. The same system was added to the wards around this whole site to filter the air coming through. The soil and water was purified while all the garbage that used to be here was cleaned up. This was once known as the most polluted place in Britain."

  
"We had heard about all of you cleaning your country, but we did not hear about these wards."

  
"I only just recently got the patent for it. So far this is the only place they've been implemented. This land actually belongs to Sirius Black, the CEO of Explorer's club Inc., which currently co-owns the patent with me as it was made under their aegis as part of their R & D department."

  
"We have something similar on some of our settlements--to filter the air only, not directly take it from the body. It is good to see young people so engaged with the fate of this world."

  
"I guess I'm something of a special case. I was transfigured into a book for fifty years, and so the changes were very obvious to me in a way I think they weren't for people who grew up with it gradually getting worse."

  
"Tom's our personal environmental warrior. He's really been leading the charge on cleaning up the environment here in Britain. A lot of wizards jumped on board because we've been making money from cleaning up the world. There's still a lot to be done though." Barty explained.

  
"There is much to be done everywhere, it seems. We withdrew with the intention of leaving the muggles to their own devices, but apparently that was a mistake--not hiding, but allowing them to run unchecked for so long. Our people have been investigating the muggle world more, and they have not liked the things they see, no not at all. Why that one fellow from India told us that some muggles who own a factory that makes fizzy drinks are stealing all the water from some of the other muggles in one area, leaving none for the farmers or the people who live there, and their food will not grow, and they have nothing, so they are committing suicide!"

  
"What? That's terrible."

  
"Indeed it is, a very bad business. Some who investigated were so horrified by the people's plight that they've been trying to get permission to curse the water stealers and teach them a lesson about their lack of compassion, but so far they have been denied. As I said, there was some consternation in my homeland, but after talking to some others since we've been here we have discovered that our problems are not so bad in comparison. Those Chinese wizards, for example, are completely surrounded on all sides by an endless press of muggles, and their pollution problems are far worse and much more widespread than in our little corner of the world. It is much the same in India, and not just with the water problems I spoke of earlier. They are trapped in small bubbles they have claimed for themselves, but the press of the muggles grows ever greater, and they themselves have no room to expand, and again, their pollution is far worse than ours. In such places the race to keep out their influence started long ago, and grows more desperate with every passing season as their own populations grow. It is a terrible business for all concerned."

  
They hung out for a while longer, talking more about their respective countries before moving on. After idly browsing the souvenir stands, chatting with some witches from New Zealand, saying hello to a few Australians who were splashing around in the stream, drinking and having a barbecue, they circled around to head back towards their own part of the camp. As they were coming abreast of the French camp, they spotted Ron, who was stumbling after a couple of blondes, vacant-eyed and drooling, draped in souvenirs, while loudly insisting he was the Minster of Magic.

  
"What the hell is he doing?" Harry groaned, hurrying to retrieve him. Sadly, Barty soon outpaced him, chasing after the girls and shouting _"I'm famous! And rich! LOVE ME!!!"_

  
Tom and Harry both groaned and hurried after them. By the time they caught up, the blonde girls were out of sight. Ron seemed to come back to himself and flushed hotly in humiliation.

  
"I don't know what came over me! They were just walking by…and you know how I like it when they do that. I couldn't help myself!"

  
Barty, in contrast, just sighed in disappointment. _"Have a heart ladies! I was in prison!"_ He called after them. He turned back to the rest of them. "I swear, veelas…part veelas, whatever they were. Get you all worked up and prance away. Be nice if they could turn it off once in a while."

  
"Veelas?"

  
"They're magical creatures. They look like beautiful women and have an allure that attracts men. Full-blooded veela are actually giant bird women who throw fireballs, the sexy human girl bit is just a disguise." Tom explained.

  
"Bloody hell."

  
"Don't sweat it, lad. If you had the presence of mind to look around, I'm sure you'd have seen we weren't the only ones that lost our heads." Barty consoled him.

  
"They didn't." Ron gestured to Tom and Harry sourly.

  
"I know occlumency."

  
"Loki zapped my brain."

  
"Think he'd zap my brain if I asked him?"

  
"Your mother would probably object. Just point your wand at your brain and say _'occlumens'_ and picture a wall that won't let anything in." Tom interjected.

  
Ron eyed him a moment to see if he was serious and then followed his instructions.

  
"I feel like I'm wearing a helmet over my brain."

  
"You'll get used to it."

  
Barty sniggered and did the same.

  
"Hey Ron? Do you have any money left for Hogsmeade?"

  
"Got some. I didn't spend all of it."

  
"Did you consider that your mum might be expecting you to do your own school shopping this year, did you think of that? She knows you had a job."

  
"Bloody hell. I'm going to be broke!"

  
"Did it occur to you that we're also going to be here a few more days? What are you going to do then?"

  
"Ah crap. Can you maybe…"

  
" **No.** "

  
"Oh come on!"

  
"You had fifty galleons. If you're broke you've no one to blame but yourself."

  
"What's going on over there?" Barty interjected.

  
"Huh? The Irish camp? They're having a party or something." Ron shrugged.

  
"Yeah?" Barty said with some interest. "We should check it out." he muttered, though he was already headed that way. The rest of them followed him. A party did sound like just the thing.

 

That evening when everyone had gathered together again, Padma spoke up.

  
"We were thinking yesterday… it's just, we were talking to our relatives and some family friends who came in for the World Cup, and we also know from our own summer trips to India that, well frankly, long distance travel is awful. It's bad enough that my grandparents, who get nauseous on international portkeys, tried muggle transportation. They said it really wasn't any better."

  
"Cramped, very slow, kind of expensive, and you have to have all sorts of identification and go through a lot of bother going in and out of a country." Parvati agreed.

  
"We asked around and it seems pretty much the same for everyone who came a long way. In fact, there were a lot more people who wanted to come to the world cup but decided not to because it meant they would have to travel."

  
"It really is terrible. We don't go long distance too often, but every time we do we dread it."

  
Padma nodded her agreement. "Well, we were thinking…we're planning to make a ship that can travel really ridiculous distances into outer space. Couldn't we, maybe, use some of what we've learned to make comfortable, speedy travel here on earth?"

  
"Sort of like the Knight bus, but, you know, _good._ "

  
"I don't know, what do you all think? Can it be done?" Padma wondered.

  
"I think it would be a good investment. I know we'd likely make a lot of money just on our family going back and forth." Parvati joked.

  
"We'd probably want to start small. Maybe a single transport between here and France till we work out the bugs?" Cedric suggested.

  
"Sirius was thinking about putting an entertainment district up in the next cleared landfill, right?" Neville asked.

  
"That's what he said a while ago, yeah." Tom nodded.

  
"We could use that as a draw to promote tourism." Pansy mused.

  
"Those investors yesterday were here to talk about opening a franchise chain of nightclubs. Sirius said something about a big stone café in the muggle world?" Draco spoke up.

  
"Big…oh! The Hard Rock café?"

"Yes, that was it!"

"I've heard of those. Yeah, there's one in I think major cities all over the world, and they sell merchandise you can only get from one location. It kind of encourages people to want to visit all of them for bragging rights or something, and famous musicians hang out there sometimes." Dean nodded.

  
"If we could get this ready to try and coincide with those cafes opening up, we could sort of help make them a success." Seamus noted.

  
"We'll be getting a cut from every one of them, and from the merchandising, plus the transports could be profitable on their own if enough people want to use them, which means we have to design them to be swift and as comfortable as possible." Tom mused.

  
"We'll have to get permission from every country we want a stop in, and work out something with their ministries to allow foreign visitors and clear them for entry to the country on possibly a daily basis… though we might have to run it seasonally. I'm not sure if the rest of the wizarding world does boarding schools, or it's just Europe…does anyone know?" Penny wondered.

  
"It seems to be the norm most places, but there are a few places that have day schools instead. There might be enough business to run it year round, we'd just have to run more in the summer months, which varies depending on where you are. We should take into consideration things like monsoon seasons and places that have especially harsh winters as well." Tom answered.

  
"We could set up a dedicated transport station and let each country staff part of it with ministry workers to oversee letting people in. We might have to issue passports or something…ones that we can have made standardized in the countries we're going to. We could probably design a dedicated system to keeping track of them, scan them before they get on the transport, scan them when they get off, so both countries have a record of who's where and all…" Lee mused.

  
"We could put shops in the stations to sell souvenirs and stuff, cafes with local cuisine. We could do that here, and then have the other countries do their own." Hannah suggested.

  
"We could sell tickets to the entertainment district when it's built, maps of places to go and visit" Draco interjected.

  
"Yeah, a visitor's center-slash-travel agency!" Lavender enthused.

  
"If they're going to stay longer than a day we can direct them to places for lodging." Parvati suggested.

  
"We'll have to take time zones into account when scheduling too…" Padma warned.

  
"I should go get my father. He's likely the one who's going to have to be making arrangements for a lot of this." Draco realized.

  
"Yeah, go do that, get Sirius and Remus while you're at it." Barty nodded, still busy taking notes. "Art department, start sketching out some ideas for simple trains--the simpler the better. We'll likely be using portkeys or something to send them from station to station, so smooth, roomy inside, wheels…or maybe make them hover in place? I wonder which would work better for our needs? Hmmm. Little model stations as well. We'll vote on them later. Enchanters, get ready to build some scale models of everything. It's easier to get folks to give you money and get on board if they have something concrete to look at. We might be able to get a few countries to agree to the idea right now. It's the perfect time for it, really."

  
"Won't doing this take a lot of time from the space program though?" Harry objected.

  
"The heavy lifting will be done by adults we hire, kiddies, don't worry about it."

  
Sirius, Remus, Lucius and Nott Sr. came in a short while later. Barty gave them the run down on what they'd been talking about. The rest of them then looked at Nott Sr., who was apparently an accountant. He settled himself down with several ledgers to start running the numbers, while Lucius and the rest tried to figure out how many hoops they'd have to jump through and how much it would cost them to get the other ministries on board. Lee and his group wandered off to try to figure out how troublesome and expensive a dedicated passport and ticketing system would be to design and make, while the enchanters and the art department wandered off to start designing.

  
Harry looked at all the adults, and then drug Tom and Ron off to the mining workroom.

  
"Come on. We need to get these ready for the next series of tests. We have lots of ideas, but not enough money to make them happen. We need to get moving on the mining so we'll have more cash flow. It wouldn't hurt to get more raw materials either. It's going to get expensive if we have to start buying large amounts of material from muggles, not to mention it'll probably get them curious about what we need it all for."

  
"Yeah. I swear, muggles are nosy buggers, aren't they?" Ron sighed.

  
"You two go ahead and get started on that. I'm going to begin work on a station to station programmable portkey guidance system for the train." Tom disagreed.

  
"Sounds complicated." Ron replied.

  
"It'll be much simpler than the one for the space ship--a lot fewer variables to take into consideration, though I'll still be using Cassiopeia's work as the basis. I guess I'm going to have to construct an earth in a globe after all." Tom wandered off deep in thought, and Ron started for the mining room.

  
"Hey Ron, I'll be there in a sec." he said, following Tom.

  
"What's up?"

  
"I was just wondering… if you were to curse a muggle through that would it be traceable?"

  
"Well…it shouldn't be, but that doesn't mean no one will be able to manage it if they look hard enough. Why do you want to curse a muggle?"

  
"The farmers in India that are committing suicide. I can't stop thinking about them."

  
"We might be better off whipping up a rain cloud or two for the muggles, rather than cursing anyone. If there are curses on muggles they're going to look and keep looking. A sudden rainstorm could be natural. If they can't find a culprit they'll be more likely to let it go."

  
"Can we do that then?"

  
"I'll see what I can do."

  
"You know, children, if you're going to stand around talking about cursing people, you should probably close the door first."

  
"LOKI!"

  
Loki was at first surprised, then rather pleased, when both boys hurried over with smiles on their face. They didn't hug him--his boys weren't big huggers--but they did lean into his sides as they gathered close. Who but his mother was ever so happy to see him?

  
"You're back! Are you done adventuring?"

  
"For the moment. I should be around till the end of the summer at least. I had to sneak off when my dratted brother finally left me alone for five minutes. He seemed very determined to keep me nearby for some reason. I've been running all over the galaxy with he and his minions for weeks, so hopefully he won't come looking for me right away. He shouldn't. There was a feast going on to celebrate our return."

  
"You left during the feast?"

  
"Well, yes. I mean, I like a good feast as much as anyone, but they're always the same--loud, a lot of drinking, and then Thor and company regale the people with the tale of our battle…which usually boils down to _"we were all awesome and did mighty battle…oh, and Loki was there too, though he didn't do anything much of note."_ You'd be surprised at how quickly that grows rather boring."

  
"I can imagine."

  
**_"Oi! Harry! You're not going to leave me to do all this alone, right?"_**

  
"Oh…right. I was supposed to be going over the mining equipment right now… though Ron's got a bit of nerve. He left me alone with all of it earlier because he wanted to go blow all his money on cheap souvenirs and chase veelas!"

  
"Don't let me keep you then. I imagine you'll all be having dinner before too long, correct? I'll just see you then."

 

 

"Good morning."

  
"Oh, hey Luna."

  
"Where is everyone?"

  
"Sirius, Remus, Barty, Lucius and Mr. Nott, whose first name I don't actually know…oh, and Penny too…are trying to chat up some rich people about the train idea and get a feel for how much trouble it's likely to be. Tom is trying to make a guidance system for said train…Ron is probably still in bed. He's never been a morning person."

  
"Neither are you."

  
"Yeah, but I was never allowed to sleep late, so… Those who are here with their families are back at their own campsites and haven't shown up yet. The twins and the Creevy brothers are off running their stands, I think everyone else snuck off to go look around some more."

  
"Oh. What are you doing?"

  
"I was going through my PDA last night and I found the scans I made of those translator things in those guys necks. I'd almost forgotten I had them. I figured I'd take a look at them and see if I could make heads or tails of them."

  
"Oh. Do you want some help?"

  
"Sure."

  
Luna settled on the couch beside him, upside down like he was.

  
"Do you have any idea what this is?"

 

 

The following morning, game day, the rest of the Weasleys were due to arrive.

  
"We sold out of all the products we had with us." George explained.

  
"Just as well, really. Mum will likely demand we stay close by until the game." Fred sighed.

  
"Not to mention she's not too thrilled with our prank shop plan"

  
"Absolutely hates it. She wants all of us to work for the ministry."

  
"We'll leave that to Percy, thanks. Neither of us would ever be happy living in a cubicle."

  
"Bill and Charlie keep telling her the same, but she's not a good listener, our mum."

  
"Ginny's prolly gonna be in a right strop at being left behind while we all stayed here. I'm not looking forward to that." Ron added. "It's her own fault though. I actually tried sounding her out, but she's not interested in anything that we're doing. She hates farming, thinks astronomy is a waste of time, I mentioned geology and mining once, and she told me to shut up."

  
"Yeah, I know. She likes _quidditch and defense against the dark arts…because she's not like other girls._ " Harry snorted.

  
"We'd best go meet up with them before mum comes looking for us." George sighed. "I guess we'll likely not see any of you until after the game."

  
"Have fun."

  
"We've still a bit of time before the game starts, correct?" Loki asked as he came in from elsewhere in the tent.

  
"Yeah. It doesn't start till this evening."

  
"Excellent. That gives me plenty of time to see how you've both been keeping up with your training."

  
Tom and Harry both groaned, but they followed Loki when he left the room and headed down to the ballroom.

  
"Oh, this should be good." Millicent cackled, following them. Theo and the rest of the kids still there were quick to follow her.

  
"What's going on? What training?" Barty wondered as he hurried after the rest of them.

  
"Battle training. They're both pretty good. They win their bouts more often than not, but they've both told me that Loki can take them both on at once and kick their asses. I can't wait to see it." Theo chortled.

 

Barty settled down at the side of the room with the rest of them to watch, curious. No one had mentioned battle training as part of the space program!  
The three of them went to the center of the ballroom and all glowed for a moment, only to be covered in strange armored clothing when the glow faded. Loki wore mostly leather--a long coat, trousers and shirt, with some armored pieces here and there to add extra protection, and a ridiculous golden horned helmet. The boys each had a shirt that looked like scales with a long leather coat over it, leather pants, golden bracers and shin guards over thick-soled leather boots. They each had a golden metal headband with small horns at the front of it to complete the look. They stood still watching one another for a long moment. He was unprepared when all three suddenly attacked. What followed was a blur of leather, clashing weapons, knives being flung every which way, amidst random bursts of spellfire. The boys were fast--Loki was faster. The boys were strong--Loki was stronger by far. He could pick them up and fling them across the whole of the room with little effort, though it didn't daunt the boys overmuch; they simply righted themselves in mid-air and came back for more.

  
It went on till both boys were wheezing for breath and the hands holding their weapons were trembling. Loki wasn't out of breath and hadn't broken a sweat; you'd think he'd been out for a stroll on a sunny afternoon while the boys had been fighting for their lives.  
Loki stepped back finally and made a slashing motion with his hand. The boys dropped out of their battle-ready stances, their weapons disappeared, and they tried to stand at attention. "At ease, children."

  
What followed was a scathing fifteen minute critique on everything they'd done wrong and what he expected to see improvement on next time. It was followed by some praise, enough to lessen the sting of the critique but not enough to wipe it out completely. Loki seemed to know them well; rather than being daunted by any of it, both seemed afire to improve and prove themselves worthy in his eyes.  
By the time he was done their breathing had steadied and they no longer looked ready to keel over.

  
"That's enough for today, I think. Go get cleaned up."

  
"Yes, sir!"

  
They both glowed and their strange armor disappeared again, much like their weapons had and wandered off, presumably to go shower.

 

"I understand the rest of you have been training as well?"

  
"Yeah. Not for long though, just a few months." Dean agreed.

  
"Everyone starts somewhere. Let's see how you do. Pair up everyone."

  
Everyone but Barty scrambled to join him. At some point a rack of wooden training weapons had appeared. The kids all armed themselves and got into position to start whacking each other. Loki walked among them, making slight corrections to stances here and there, offering advice.

Barty felt a wistful sadness fill him at the sight. He had taken sword lessons as a boy, mostly because one of his friends was getting lessons. He'd begged his mum to send him too. He'd had the foolish notion that it might make his father proud of him or something. HA! His father had simply sighed and shook his head and gone off to work at the Ministry and stayed late, just like he always did.

  
He was startled out of his morose musings when Loki crouched down in front of him.

  
"Not going to join the others?"

  
"I haven't held a sword in years. Not since I was their age."

  
"Ah, you already have training, excellent. It shouldn't take long to whip you into shape then. Come along then. You heard the children, none of them have been training very long themselves."

  
"Still seems unfair. I'm still an adult and they're kids."

  
"I didn't say you'd be fighting them." Loki laughed, before glancing at the doorway. Sirius was there, looking at Loki and then looking behind him confused.

"How'd you…you were just right behind me!"

  
"Come along. You and Barty seem to be similarly matched as far as your training goes. You've no further excuses." He smiled and clapped his hands together. "Let's get the two of you warmed up and see how much you remember. The winner can try their luck against Remus. Won't that be fun?"

 

 

After everyone was cleaned up the game was finally due to start. Somehow Tom got stuck next to Draco Malfoy and had to listen to him whining about not being in the Minister's box with his father .

  
"He gave what should have been my and mother's tickets to his stupid investors."

  
"Sirius did the same. He, Remus, Barty, and Loki are in the box, we're all sitting together. Enough." Tom finally snapped at him. "They're still good seats."

  
"You'd think they'd show more appreciation. We're doing all the work." Draco continued.

  
"And none of it would go anywhere without your dad and Sirius working with the ministry and the goblins. We need more cash flow, those folks have deep pockets, of course they're going to put them in the minister's box. There's a lot more of us than there is of them, so stop whining." Harry added.

  
"Still!"

  
"Draco, enough. Save your breath for climbing." Narcissa sighed. She, Andromeda, Ted, Nymphadora and Penny were all with them.

  
The conversation was halted as they and the rest of the crowd began making their way up the stairs, and then around to the other side of the stadium to get to their seats.

  
"See? We're almost level with the box. Good seats. We should be able to see everything up here." Tom pointed out.

  
"Oi! Guys! You're over here too? Lucky." Ron said happily as he and the rest of the Weasleys approached. Everyone was introduced to Bill and Charlie, the eldest Weasley brothers, and said hello to Percy who had graduated a few months prior, along with Penny. She and Percy had broken up not long after she'd taken the job with Sirius, as she was tired of Percy making disparaging remarks about it, calling her _'the secretary of garbage'_ and trying to get her to take a job at the ministry.

She greeted everyone then turned away from Percy with a 'hmph!' and pointedly ignored him when he tried to sidle up and engage her in conversation.

Molly Weasley wasn't there, which was probably a blessing as she had a temper, and Narcissa was already looking less than pleased to be seated behind so many Weasleys. Though maybe it would have been alright--Andromeda said hello to Arthur easily enough, and had been the teacher for the youngest four for the last half of the school year, and her daughter Nymphadora, who still insisted on being called Tonks, greeted Charlie and Bill quite happily as she'd been in school with both of them.

  
It was rather exciting, really, being there with so many riled up people. The Irish supporters made a wall of green around a good portion of the stadium. While Bulgaria's fans were in red and many were holding photos of the seeker, Viktor Krum, who still looked glowery and somewhat constipated, much as he did in his portraits outside in their camp.

  
"We bet on the game with Ludo Bagman. Ireland to win, but Viktor Krum will get the snitch."

  
"He's really good, sadly for him Ireland's whole team is good. Bulgaria really only got as far as they did because they had Krum." the twins told the rest of them.

  
"That might have been a mistake." Ted told the boys with a shake of his head. "I've heard he has a problem with debts, gambling, and gambling debts. If you win, you might have a hard time tracking him down again."

  
"What? He better not try and do a runner! We gave him ten galleons. Each!"

  
"What? Where'd you get ten galleons? Oh, boys that was foolish…" Arthur scolded.

  
"Daaad, we've had a job, remember? We've been making good too!" George huffed in response.  
" We were doing a brisk business right up until last night when we were forced to close because we sold out our stock." Fred agreed.

  
"Stock? What?"

  
"We had a booth set up all week, selling the prank items we made. The kids loved it, and the parents were more than happy to clear our shelves",  
"Yeah, because they were all looking for stuff to keep the kiddies occupied while waiting for the game to start."

  
"A few bibs and bobs don't a career make." Arthur shook his head.

  
"HA! We had a stockpile of all sorts of things, loads of it, and we cleared it all out. We thought we had plenty to sell at school during the year, but no such luck"  
"we got cleaned out already. What's more, we've got deals in the works to market our stuff internationally."

  
"Internationally?" Percy chimed in, sounding astonished.

  
"Sirius' has been having parties with foreign investors all week."  
"They're all interested in importing some of our stuff after they saw how quickly it sold."  
"So don't worry about us."  
"We're taking over the world, one prank item at a time."

 

There was no time for further talk as the distant figure of Ludo Bagman, who was acting as the announcer, stepped up to the edge of the minister's box.

  
" _Sonorus._ **WELCOME WITCHES, WIZARDS, FRIENDS OF ALL NATIONS TO THE 422ND QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP!"**

  
The crowd went wild, and soon the whole stadium was filled with the voices of a hundred thousand witches and wizards screaming in unison.

  
**"FIRST, OUR LOCAL BOYS! THE IRISH NATIONAL QUIDDITCH LEAGUE! WE HAVE LYNCH! TROY! MULLET! MORAN! CONNOLLY! QUIGLEY! AND RYAN!"**

  
The crowds began chanting and screaming as the green-clad team zoomed out onto the field. Down below, a veritable horde of leprechauns, the Irish mascot, boiled out onto the field and began flinging handfuls of gold every which way into the crowds.

  
"All right! Gold!" Ron cheered as he lunged for some.

  
**"ALL THE WAY FROM BULGARIA! WE HAVE ZOGRAF! VOLKOV! VULCANOV! LEVSKI! DIMITROV! IVANOVA! AND…..KRUM!"**

  
The crowds cheers got a bit wilder with each player that zoomed out onto the field, until the last member, seeker Viktor Krum's appearance made the previous wall of noise seem half-hearted in comparison. The Bulgarian team's mascots, a crowd of veela, came out onto the field next and began to dance. The cheering cut off and all around the stadium men began trying to fling themselves down onto the field to get at them. Arthur had removed his glasses and begun cleaning them when he spotted what was coming out onto the field, as had Percy. Bill, Charlie and the twins had to be grabbed and hauled back to their seats, as did most of the boys in their group, barring Tom, Harry and Ron, who grinned happily at not being affected.

  
"Ron? Something you want to tell us?" Bill said.

  
"No?"

  
"Veelas not to your taste?" he tried again, leadingly.

  
"Very much so….nevermind. They're scary." Ron shivered as down on the field chaos broke out.

The leprechauns had tried to leap on the dancing veelas, who, enraged, turned to their bird forms and began pelting them with fireballs. All around in the crowd the men were released from their spell, and yet more chaos broke out as those who had wives or girlfriends with them had to defend themselves from their irate ladies.

  
"I'm sure glad I've got occlu-whatsit"

  
Bill stared at him for a moment. "Occlumency?"

  
"Yeah! That's it!"

  
" _You've_ got occlumency? **You**." he repeated.

  
"What of it? Like it's hard or anything."

  
Bill looked so flabbergasted by this assertion he seemed unable to say anything else.

  
Ginny looked at Harry and Tom curiously.

  
"Harry? Do you have occlumency too?"

  
"Hmm?" he asked distractedly. "No. Tom does."

  
"I see." she said faintly. In spite of her assertions to the contrary, she still carried a bit of a torch for the green-eyed boy. She looked stricken, and vaguely ill. Ginny turned back around to face the game distractedly when Dean nudged her to pay attention.

  
**"BEGIN!"**

  
"GO IRELAND!"

 

 

"What are you children doing in here? Why aren't you out celebrating with the rest of them?" Loki asked curiously.

He himself had joined the revels for a while, but then upon noting his wards were missing from the festivities had gone in search of them.

"Was not the green team the ones you all were rooting for? They won, even if that fellow from the red got the little bird thing."

  
"The snitch. Yeah. Everyone was right, Krum really is a superb player. The rest of the Bulgarian team is competent, but none of them hold a candle to him. Ireland's whole team was good, even their seeker, though sadly he's not quite as good as Krum." Harry agreed peaceably.

He, Tom and Luna were gathered around his scans of the universal translators.

  
"We were out with everyone for a while, but everyone's beginning to get drunk and disorderly. Neither Harry nor I care to be around such people." Tom added.

  
"Neither of us has had good experiences with drunk people." Harry agreed.

  
"Actually, it's good that you're here." Luna interjected. "Is there a place on Knowhere that installs universal translators by chance?"

  
"There is." Loki agreed.

  
"Go to the place they're installed and see how they calibrate them. Good thinking." Tom said with approval.

  
"Could you show us where it is?"

  
"I can, since you have the means and ability to get there, in a manner of speaking, on your own." Loki agreed.

  
"Oh goody." Luna said serenely before skipping off to retrieve the spaceport in a globe.

 

 

 

 

"You know I'm right." Barty insisted.

  
"The thing you don't seem to realize is that the very foundation of the corporation means I _can't_. That was the deal. The kids can't be cut out of things." Sirius disagreed.

  
"Who said anything about cutting them out! That would be tragic…and mean. No. What I’m suggesting, if anything, should increase the likelihood of them actually doing what they want. They're such smart, dedicated kids, but they're all trying to do too many things at once. Twelve OWLs, muggle school, both at the public school and university level for some of them, and the project as well? That's a lot. They're holding up remarkably under that kind of load, but let's face it, sooner or later at least some of them are going to burn out. For the rest, it may well take decades simply because they're trying to do so much and learn so much. They're supposed to be research and development, right? So let them be that! I say we should take some of the little projects they've done, ones that don't touch on the main one, and give them to the rest of the corporation to expand on and possibly market. I've gone through all their project reports. There were so many places that their progress was stalled or they ended up making things too complicated because they didn't know enough yet. And, because they keep working on new things, they don't go back and see the mistakes and the oversights and the too-complicated methodology that they'd likely recognize for what it is with a year or two more of education under their belt. I'm saying we should do that. Take their PDAs for example. They did great work there, really, but they're sure they can make them so much more than they already are, but they're so busy all the time, and they keep adding on to their inexpert kiddie framework that they started with. They already did the work and got the patents. I’m saying we take that, give it to some folks with a completed Hogwarts education who already have a computer science degree and let them improve on what they've made. They kids can then take the improved version and build on it for a while, and in the meantime, since working on it has been taken out of their hands they can concentrate on the scans from the spaceport and see what kind of improvements and gadgets they could spin out from what they've got there. If it's anything that doesn't touch too directly on the main project, I say let them do what they can and give it to us to take to the next level and make marketable. Start some back and forth so they can learn in new ways while still benefitting the company as a whole so they can concentrate on what they're really there for. That's all I'm saying." Barty explained.

  
"You know, Sirius, he does have a point. Farming out some of the peripheral projects probably would be beneficial in the long run. You were already talking about taking over the vertical farms once the kids have a working framework. This would just be more of the same." Remus agreed after some thought. "Where are we going to get someone with a Hogwarts education and a degree in computer science though?"

  
"Funnily enough I know a couple of guys from my school days who have just that, a Ravenclaw and a Hufflepuff. One's muggleborn, the other's a halfblood that grew up muggle. They're part of the muggle liaison department, but they're low totem pole fellows. Get to read journal articles all day and write short reports on them. They wanted to be building stuff, ushering in a new era and all that. It's a good time to try to wrangle them too. The Ministry is trying to cut some of the fat. With the new villages slowly getting filled up, secrecy violations are down."

  
"They made all that money from the landfills though. They should have a surplus budget." Remus objected.

  
"They very well may, but you know how it goes. The higher ups probably want raises, and fancier offices, so they'll trim the lower ranks where they can. The guy I mentioned is a likely cut. He's not out in the field, he's in a cubicle reading, and there's the whole Department of Mysteries, who does the same with keeping up with what the muggles are doing, and does research to shore up secrecy at the same time, so anyone looking for a raise can easily point to him and the others in his little office to be cut. They can't cut the aurors and such without the populace complaining, but the other departments are fair game. I say we snatch these fellows up before they go looking for or finding other jobs."

  
"We don't really have the funds to be hiring anyone new right now though. We've enough to keep paying the workers we've got, to keep getting the materials we need to make the products we're already marketing, and for the kids budget…everything else is tied up in the train thing."

  
"My father was a life-long workaholic with few expenses. I've actually got plenty of money. So long as I'm living with you I don't really have any expenses myself. If I can get them to come on board I can cover their monthly salaries until we have a bit of cash flow going again. I'll just try to encourage them to get good severance packages when they leave the Ministry." Barty offered.

  
"Why would you even want to do that?" Sirius wondered.

  
"Are you kidding? I'm having a blast. This is the most fun I've had in years…not that that really says much considering... But seriously, I want to see those kiddies succeed. I really think farming out some of their projects and starting some back and forth research and development is the way to make it happen."

"Alright then…if you can get them on board, do so. We'll have a meeting with all the kids when we get home to let them know what we're planning." Sirius agreed.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kids head back to school, and a newly familiar face is there. A possible threat from the muggle world is detected.

Much to everyone's confusion, all the twelve OWL kids were pulled aside by Professor McGonagall and Professor Lupin as soon as they arrived at the castle, as were Luna, Colin and Ginny, who were all there with them. Professor McGonagall seemed irritated, while Remus just mostly seemed amused. They were brought to the same room they'd met in last year to be told about the time-turner, but they couldn't imagine what it was about this time. Astoria Greengrass was already waiting there as were two Hufflepuff kids and three more Ravenclaws from Luna's year that were all part of the Garden.

"I honestly don't know what's gotten into you children lately…but all of you will be taking twelve OWL level classes this year. It was quite a bother arranging the schedule so all of you could utilize the time turner in an efficient manner."

"Time turner?" Astoria asked with interest.

McGonagall explained the device, which Remus held up to show all of them, and the secrecy they'd have to uphold concerning it. As the younger kids got busy signing their contracts, the elder asked questions.

"It's bigger than it was before. The last one was a little thing." Millicent noted.

"Yes well, they had to make some adjustments because of the size of the crowd it's meant to be transporting. I do hope there's not as large a bunch of you next year as well, or this whole time-travel experiment is going to begin getting rather unwieldy." Remus chuckled.

"So, wow, you were all travelling through time all last year? Neat!" Colin said in amazement.

"It's not nearly as cool as it sounds. It makes for long days and longer weeks. Just make sure you pace yourself, keep a good record of what you're meant to be doing, and try to take care of any homework on the day you get it. You'll quickly get overwhelmed if you don't." Harry warned.

"Try to leave yourself an hour here and there for fun, or just to relax." Theo added.

"And keep at it. It's hard, but we all think it's worth it in the end." Neville agreed.

"Yeah. So…welcome to the overworked, overtired, got-to-be-crazy-to-be-doing-this twelve OWL club." Ron concluded.

"Gee, thanks." Astoria replied, her voice dry.

The kids all headed into the great hall and separated to go to their own tables.

 

"Back at Hogwarts again already. The summer really flew by, didn't it?" George commented when they all sat down.

"I wonder if that's the new history teacher. Professor Tonks did say she wouldn't be coming back." Hermione noted.

"Hey, it's Slughorn!" Harry noted with surprise.

"You know him?"

"I met him this summer. He was at the world cup helping Sirius round up investors."

"I see…" Hermione was obviously confused as to why a history teacher would be doing such a thing, but she let it drop.

"Hey, does anyone know why we needed dress robes?" Katie Bell wondered.

"You did?" Neville asked curiously. "I didn't." 

"Me either, but Tom did." Harry noted.

"I did." Lee chimed in.

"Me too." added Angelina Johnson. "Anyone know why?"

"Maybe it's the Tri-wizard tournament?" Lee wondered.

"The what now?" Katie asked.

"You didn't hear about it? It's an old tournament that's been revived. They're going to be holding it at Hogwarts this year. That's what Lucius said anyway." Harry explained.

"Why do we need dress robes though?" Angelina wondered.

"There's a Yule Ball traditionally held as part of the tournament. It was meant to build international ties." Lee explained.

"So why didn't we need robes then?" Ginny said, sounding irate.

"I guess it's only for the older students." Hermione said, sounding slightly wistful.

"What? That's not fair! I want to go to a ball!" 

"Well, if the tournament goes well and they decide to keep it revived the next one will be in your sixth year. You can go then." Harry tried to console her.

"So unfair!" Ginny growled, obviously unconsoled.

"Is anyone going to try out?" Neville asked everyone curiously.

"I'm going to! Do you think Viktor Krum will be part of the Durmstrang delegation? That would be so cool!" Ron said dreamily. 

"Do try to remember you're a Hogwarts student. You'd better cheer for our champion, whoever it is." Ginny growled "though it would really be cool if Viktor Krum came. I'll probably have better luck chatting him up than you will though, since I'm a fellow seeker. You're not even on the quidditch team." she added with a smirk.

"I do hope everyone tries to treat him normally and doesn't gawk at him like something in a zoo if he does. I doubt he likes it any more than I did when I first started Hogwarts. In the end, he's just a guy who happens to be really good on a broom." Harry spoke up warningly.

"I'm glad Ireland won the World Cup, but I kinda wanted Krum to win too. Can you imagine? Being a World Cup champ while still in school?" Ginny mused.

"Speaking of quidditch, who's the captain this year?" Neville wondered.

"I guess they haven't decided yet. None of the girls got the badge, and neither did we." George shook his head.

"Did you hear? Oliver got picked up by Puddlemere United as a reserve player." Angelina spoke up.

"Yeah? Good on him. How about Flint?" Ron asked.

"He wanted to go professional, but his dad wanted him to join the family business." Katie Bell explained.

"What do they do?" Harry wondered.

"Textile manufacturing. Your robes all probably came from one of their factories before Madame Malkin got hold of them." 

"It was really good Tom put that thing up to get rid of their quidditch obsession, or neither one of them might have managed to graduate." Neville mused.

"Think they'll be getting married? If they do they better invite all of us." Ginny added.

"Married? Who?" Hermione asked.

"Oliver Wood and Marcus Flint." Fred explained.

"Them? Get married? But…they're both boys! And they hate each other!"

The rest of them stared at her in bemused astonishment.

"Where have you been?" Alicia demanded.

"Oh…wait…you were still petrified when they started dating. But seriously, you didn't notice after that? They were practically joined at the lips whenever they weren't arguing over quidditch." Harry realized.

"And they can in fact get married if they want." Neville added.

"I'm pretty sure that's not legal in Britain!"

"It is in the magical world. We're separate. We have our own laws." Ginny reminded her.

"I thought wizards were concerned with bloodlines. How do they reconcile that with couples that can't have children?"

"There are options they can explore. While it's true in the past there were families who forced the issue with a bit of lust potion and a bride, it was a solution generally looked down on as it led to rather unhappy marriages in many cases. It was felt better to allow couples to be with who they chose and find other options than to force the issue." Neville shrugged. 

"And how do you know so much about it? Aren't you dating Hannah Abbot?"

Neville gave Hermione an impatient look at her question.

"Yes, I am. I have a great-great-great uncle who was forced to marry a girl. They were great friends. She was gay too. They both wanted kids, so they just got on with things. It wasn't ideal, but it wasn't awful either. They'd have both been happier though if they could have just chosen their own spouse and maybe just acted as surrogates for each other or something, but for the most part things worked out alright." 

"I see." Hermione said faintly. "Wait…great, great, great, and they're still alive?!"

"My family has their portrait."

"Oh. Of course." 

Conversation lagged as McGonagall led in a long row of first years for the sorting.

There was another big crowd, much like the year before--larger even, enough that Ron was practically whimpering and in tears by the time it finished. When Dumbledore stood up to make some announcements rather than calling for the food, he looked ready to kill.

"Welcome, to another year at Hogwarts! First, I should like to introduce all of you to our new History Professor. Professor Horace Slughorn."

"Old Sluggy" waved cheerfully from the table and grinned at the students. 

"Professor Slughorn returns to us after a lengthy retirement…he used to be Potions Professor and Head of Slytherin House before our esteemed Potions Master Snape took on the position. He seems to be eager to try something new." Dumbledore concluded wryly. "I should also tell you there will be no quidditch this year."

"YOU'RE JOKING!" Fred shouted, horrified.

As the students laughed, Dumbledore chuckled and shook his head. 

"I assure you I am not. I'm afraid the quidditch pitch will be needed this year as part of a tournament that will be coming to Hogwarts this year. The Tri-Wizard Tournament is being brought back. In October, students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang Academy will be joining us for the rest of the year. One student from each school will be chosen to compete in three tasks over the course of the year. For the winner, they will get the Tri-Wizard Cup, one thousand galleons, and eternal fame and glory!"

Chatter broke out among the students once more at the thought of a thousand galleons, and all around the room students became excited at the thought of trying to compete.  
Dumbledore held up his hands again. 

"While I'm glad to see that so many of our students are so keen to participate, I must tell you that the rules were changed this year. Only students who are of age at the opening of the tournament on October 31st will be allowed to compete." he made a hushing motion as howls of protest erupted all over the room. "This is a measure added this year to make sure only the most qualified students take part. The tournament was suspended in the past because of the high death toll. We're hoping, by limiting it to only those who are of age, that we can keep any more such tragedies from taking place."

Fred and George seemed especially bitter. 

"We'll be of age in April. You'd think they could make an exception!"

"Yeah! We'd be of age before the stupid tournament finishes!"

"Maybe we can find a way around the restrictions?"

"Ageing solution, do you think?"

"I'm sure Dumbledore will have thought of that. I don't know why you're all so hot to participate anyway. You heard the headmaster. People have died. It was thought far too dangerous to continue. They should have left it to history." Hermione sniffed.

"Wish I could participate. I hope they have another one when we're of age so I can take part." Ron grumbled, "Though it'd be kind of hard with all the classes we're taking." he realized.

"Personally, I'm glad of the restriction. Gran would expect me to take part otherwise. She can't complain now." Neville said happily.

"Do you think Tom will try?" Hermione asked.

"it depends on how much hassle he thinks it will be. He'll really want that thousand galleons. He has expensive tastes and no money." Harry laughed. "But if he thinks he can make that kind of money more easily by ignoring the tournament and focusing on…other things… he'll do that. Of course, Slytherin house will probably be bugging him to compete, so it will depend on how much hassle he thinks it will be to say no, and have someone from another house become champion. The other Slytherins wouldn't take it well if they thought him a shoo-in. In fact, it looks like they're starting already. If they keep bugging him he probably will." 

"At least it would still be one of us…even if he's a Slytherin." Ron said almost cheerfully. He'd come a long way in just a few years.

 

Morning came too early, as it always did when a new school year began. They were all lingering over breakfast, washing it down with cups of strong tea, which they'd asked the house elves to bring them for breakfast instead of the usual pumpkin juice, when Professor McGonagall came around with everyone's schedules. Colin and Ginny, who had already gotten theirs, were staring at them blankly, like they couldn't quite believe what they were seeing.

"I guess it's a good thing there's no quidditch this year. What the hell was I thinking?"

"Miss Weasley. Language." McGonagall sniffed as she began handing out schedules to the fourth years.

Harry, Ron and Neville sighed, Hermione did too, though she seemed excited nonetheless, as she always was when a new school year began.

"Herbology is up first." Neville said happily.

"Divination this afternoon." Hermione added, sounding glum.

"Bugger." Ron sighed. "History too"

"This is a good thing. It means we shouldn't have much homework the first day back. We can spend some time in the Garden." Harry answered him absently.

"I'll join you. Some nice gardening will be relaxing after a day of classes. Won't it be dark though?" Ginny asked.

"Don't be stupid. You hate 'grubbing around in the dirt', remember?" Ron objected.

"I don't hate it. I'm actually quite good with plants. I got an 'O' in herbology last year." 

"I thought DADA was your thing." Harry asked, voice wry.

"It is, that doesn't mean I can't be good at other things. I happen to be multi-talented." 

"Good for you."

"What is that funny little thing anyway? I keep seeing all of you playing with them." Ginny made a playful grab for the PDA, but Harry moved it out of her reach and put it away.

"Do you mind?"

Ginny pouted at him and tossed her hair over her shoulder. 

"Top secret, huh? Fine, be that way." she added airily, but Harry didn't take the bait or try to explain himself. She waited a bit to see if he'd say anything, but he just dug into his breakfast, so she changed tracks. 

"So…I'm really excited about Hogsmeade this year. You'll all show me all the cool places right, since you've been there before?" she asked, though the way she was leaning into Harry's personal space said she was really only talking to him.

"Most of the fun there is in wandering around and finding the cool places for yourself." Harry answered absently while focusing on his breakfast. 

A brief look of frustration crossed her face, but then the bell rang and all the students began leaving to get ready for classes. She waited a moment to see if he would look back, say goodbye, smile…anything. All he did was join Ron, Neville, and those stupid Slytherins he insisted on hanging out with to head out towards herbology. Hermione sighed in frustration and headed upstairs to gather her books for the day.

"Come on, Ginny! We don't want to be late the first day!" Colin chirped cheerfully, before dragging her off towards Astoria, who was already heading towards the potions classroom.

"I have to go get my books!" Ginny growled, pulling her arm away from his grasp. "You too, I would imagine."

"Nope. Got them all right here." he patted his bag. "Expanded inside, featherlight charm, reinforced fabric and seams. I hardly notice I'm carrying it." 

She glanced over and saw Astoria had a similar bag that she carried with a similar level of ease. Everyone else was headed upstairs to get the books they'd need for today's classes. Her eyes narrowed. Her brother and Harry and them had much the same and hadn't had to go gather their books either. 

"You might want to hurry. Class will be starting soon." Colin added before bouncing off. Ginny huffed in irritation and began stomping up the stairs to make the long, long trek back up to Gryffindor tower. 

When she finally made it to the classroom, she got in the door just before the bell rang. Snape looked down his long nose at her. 

"Do try to be more prompt in the future, Miss Weasley." 

She slumped down in her seat and glared at the board. It was already shaping up to be a crap day.

 

Professor Sprout looked around to make sure she had everyone's attention.

"Today class we'll be harvesting bubotubers--they're in need of squeezing. You'll be harvesting the pus…"

"What?!" Seamus asked, sounding sick.

"Pus, Mr. Finnegan. Now, if you'll all take your bubotuber--be sure you're wearing your gloves! Undiluted bubotuber pus is a skin irritant and can be quite painful if you get enough on you…"

Around the greenhouse, the kids reluctantly pulled the plants towards themselves. They looked rather like large black slugs covered in pustules. 

"I think mine just wriggled." Draco said in dismay.

"Yeah. They do that sometimes." Neville agreed cheerfully, already squeezing pus from his.

"It smells like petrol." Harry noted, wrinkling his nose.

"Does it? It's a rather strong odor…but you know, I've always rather liked it, to be honest." Neville noted. 

His plant was already half-harvested. He had a firm, sure hand when handling plants of any sort. The rest of them weren't sure they even wanted to touch the things---even while wearing gloves.  
Harry had learned at an early age that unpleasant tasks didn't go away just because you didn't want to do them. He watched Neville and did his best to emulate him.  
Hermione held hers at arm's length and grimaced every time one of the pustules burst. Lavender kept saying 'EW' every time she had to touch hers.

"Why can't we study flowers? Pretty, nice-smelling flowers?" she lamented.

"That don't shoot pus, or try to eat you…" Parvati nodded.

"Or try to stab you with thorns or wrap you in vines to strangle you." Draco agreed sourly. 

"Well done, Mr. Longbottom." Sprout congratulated as she came around to inspect their work. "Why don’t you get started on another…extra credit" she added as she was passing by Hermione who was so tentative in handling her plant, she'd yet to really get started on harvesting it. Hermione grimaced and pulled her plant a little closer to give it a firm squeeze. "EWWWW." she echoed Lavender. "So gross… Still… extra credit to do a second one." she told herself firmly.

"That's it, Mr. Zabini, a nice firm grip and a solid stroke. Well done." 

Beside him Pansy tittered and waggled her eyebrow at him when he gave her a dirty look.

_"My, my, Blaise, just what were you doing this summer that you have such a **solid stroke**?"_ she asked under her breath. His grip tightened in annoyance and a thick spurt of pus shot out into his collection bowl. 

"Man, this is disgusting." Ron muttered.

Harry looked at him in surprise. "Really? I find it strangely relaxing."

"It is strangely satisfying once you get the hang of it, isn't it?" Hermione agreed, giving her bubotuber a firm squeeze and grinning in triumph at the spurt of pus she was rewarded with. 

Ron eyed her askance and then his ears started turning red.

A bit further down the table, Pansy tittered again. 

 

"So? What do you think?" Barty asked curiously. Sirius watched from off to the side, not really talking or interfering in any way.

"I think I'm impressed. A bunch of kids at Hogwarts made these? I feel like a slacker now. Most days when I was in school, it was all I could manage to get my homework done, let alone something like this." Barnabas Bingham, former Ravenclaw said wryly.

"They did some neat stuff here." Royce Hammon, former Hufflepuff agreed. "The 3-D scanner is especially impressive…though I'm at a loss as to what a school kid would need with such a thing." 

"Do you read the Quibbler at all?" Sirius asked.

"Once in a while." Barnabas replied.

"Do you remember an article a while back about Hogwarts being made to withstand earthquakes?"

"Oh! Yeah, I do. That's what that was for?"

"No. Harry, Ron and Neville were scanning the castle with their wands. The program was made to emulate what they were doing, because they'd learned a lot of interesting stuff while doing it." 

"Huh. Clever." Royce commented.

"As interesting as this thing is, what I don't get is what you need us for." Barnabas tried to move things along.

"As neat as it is, and as useful, it was still made by a bunch of kids, remember. They're only halfway through their education. The ones that made the thing in your hand are all going in to their sixth year now, so they could probably clean it up some themselves if they went through and overhauled the whole thing, but they keep working on new things, and so they keep building on the initial rough framework. The kids have lots of ideas, and we want to keep their creative juices flowing, while still having stuff the company can benefit from. That's where you two come in. We were thinking that if these were tightened up and improved on some, we could have a plentiful market just with the Ministry and the various guilds. I know you both wanted to be making the stuff not just reading about it…well, the kids have most of the building blocks for a basic computing system all tied up in patents, which are shared by the company. There's still more that's left to make and build though if we're to have any chance of opening up those markets. We need some way for their old, paper records to get put into the computers, preferably in a way that's quick, easy and idiot proof as possible. If you could make the records searchable, if you could mine the data in various ways to generate reports and statistics, I'm sure the Auror department would see the use in it. Same for the guilds. I'm sure you can come up with a few more things beyond that, easily."

Barnabas nodded slowly, lost in thought. Royce studied the PDA in his hand, idly flipping through the screens that listed the programs. 

"We'll share patents on anything new we make?"

"That's the model we've been going with, the company plus whoever developed the product." Sirius nodded. 

"I'm in." Royce spoke up. "This is much more interesting than reading in a cubicle all day and writing reports. I've been doing that for nearly ten years. I'm more than ready for a change." 

Barnabas glanced at his friend, then at Barty and Sirius before making his decision.

"I'm in as well. When do we start?" 

"Right away if you want to. We'll be working out of Sirius' home for the time being. We have a corporate headquarters, but it's still in the process of being built. Good news though, the offices should be ready by midwinter--they're focusing on making space for the train project first--and the whole place should be done by summer, or so they tell us." 

"You'll each get an office-slash-workroom while we're still at my house, so no worries." Sirius assured them. "You won't be camped out in my living room or anything." 

"Speaking of the train project…are you still hiring people for that?"

"We haven't actually even begun. We've only just raised the money and we're still wrangling with the Ministries to get the permits and such." Sirius admitted. "Why do you ask?"  
"Well…we know a fellow in our office who'd probably be all over that. He has an engineering degree. He's actually the guy who keeps the Hogwarts Express in working order. The rest of the time he's in with us reading articles and writing reports on them."

"Really… If he's interested, send him our way." Sirius decided. 

It would be much harder for Umbridge to stall or screw with the proceedings if they had a guy already accredited by the Ministry to deal with trains overseeing parts of the project. 

 

"Don't dawdle, children, come in, come in!" Professor Horace Slughorn greeted their class effusively. 

No one had been quite sure they were in the right place at first; Binns' boring old classroom with its neat rows of individual student desks had been swapped out for one with stadium seating, and the place had been gussied up. There were now posters and things on the walls: a timeline of British wizarding history, one with drawings of famous magical places in history, photographs and portraits of famous people who helped shape society in various ways--mostly witches and wizards, but there were a few goblin chieftains, dwarves, trolls, centaurs and hags in there as well. 

"Welcome to…you're the fourth years, correct? Alright then, your fourth year of history of magic." 

Slughorn just laughed when his cheery announcement was met only with a few grunts from the students. 

"Yes, Binns, dear fellow that he was, really should have been retired long ago, Has-Beens Union or no Has-Beens Union. He'd been doing this class so long he really couldn't help falling into a monotone. I hope you didn't let it daunt you too much. History is very important. It tells us who we are, where we've been… and naturally the seeds of current challenges and conflicts can be found amidst its dusty halls as well. Why, we saw that just recently with that whole business at Azkaban." he smiled broadly and winked at Harry. "Think about that the next time you want to skimp on your history homework! Of course we're not here to talk about that…we're supposed to be delving into the chaotic years between the witch burnings and the implementation of the statute of secrecy…"

He made himself comfy on the edge of his desk before continuing. 

"Now, one would think, with all the worry and concern among the populace because of the witch burnings, which had been going on and off across Europe for a good two hundred years, that secrecy would have been implemented swiftly, but alas, that was not the case. The magical communities were scattered far and wide across the globe, and there were arguments about how it was to be implemented, and of course there were magical plants and animals that needed to be gathered up and made secure, while these talks were going on. While today secrecy is a universal law of all magical beings and is scrupulously upheld all over the world, back then no one could agree on whether it was actually necessary for everyone. It was mostly wizards who objected to the loss of freedom that it represented. Witches and fairies were unimpressed with their arguments and in the end they carried the day. Wizards were less likely to be targeted overall, it was primarily 'witches' the mobs were searching for, though in all honesty they used the term to refer to a magical practitioner of either sex interchangeably. The fact remains, men were less likely to be accused, though some certainly were, less likely to be targeted, less likely to end up on a stake--though again, some certainly did, and so perhaps didn't feel the urgency to the same degree… The witches did feel the urgency, and they didn't have the same freedom of movement in many cases as wizards did. They were not only the primary targets, but they usually had at least one or more small children with them who then became targets in turn which could hinder their attempts to escape… and the fairies, magical beings and creatures of any sort were equally favored targets. Witches were accused of consorting with demons and ill-wishing the populace…and the fairies were accused of being demons themselves--unnatural, evil and unworthy of life. And this was the climate that we open upon. A small, insignificant village whose witch-burning hysteria reached particularly volatile heights. The irony is that there were no actual magical people or beings living in its confines. The tragedy is that they were so convinced otherwise that they went on a frenzied search for witches that continued on until every last woman in the village but one had been slain. Muggles, every one. Old, young, mothers, grandmothers and girl children. The only one spared was the head witch-hunter's mother, and even she spent some time being questioned. Upon hearing about the tragedy of the village and the depraved depths their madness had reached, the witches of the area called together a meeting and demanded action be taken. They felt in part responsible for the deaths of all those muggle women because they had allowed the discussions to drag on without being resolved. They argued that no one was truly safe so long as the madness continued, and that the muggles would likely kill every woman in all of Europe if they didn't take steps to end the situation once and for all. In fact, it was at this meeting that the plan that was eventually implemented was first suggested. It was not enough to simply withdraw and hide, the witches argued…they must make sure the muggles forgot magic was ever real in the first place, or the burnings would simply continue…" 

 

Most of the students were in high spirits when class let out. 

"That was great! If all the classes are like that, I might even like history this year!" Ron said cheerfully.

"Yeah. I didn't fall asleep once." Millicent agreed.

"I notice you don't seem happy." Harry said to Hermione.

"He's a wonderful storyteller, but we need facts. Names! Dates! _'A small insignificant village'_ Hmph!…that tells us nothing of use for our tests! What was the village's name? What was the date all this happened? Who were the witches that called the meeting and who came to their call?"

"That's all in the textbook." Harry pointed out.

"So? He's supposed to tell us these things!"

"He did, all the important bits, the overall trends, and he did name some names and give some dates." Neville objected.

"He did it all wrong. It's history class, not story hour with Professor Slughorn. It's supposed to be serious!" 

"And for years it was, it was boring as all hell, and everyone fell asleep. Half the people who took history failed it outright, and the rest had to struggle for an A because it was so hard to remember anything told to you while you were half asleep." Theo scoffed. "I like his way much better." 

"Everyone is going to fail their OWLs for lack of information!"

"So, homework?" Draco interjected before anyone could start arguing. 

"Geez, Hermione, it's only the first day, give the guy a chance!" Ron sighed.

"Today, he gave us a broad overview of the whole time period. Unless he's planning to do something else for the whole rest of the year, he's probably going to go into more detail on each decade over the rest of the classes." Millicent pointed out. 

"He'd better." Hermione said darkly. 

"Did any of you see that article about Azkaban in the paper this morning?" Draco tried again to get off the subject of classes. Hermione would go on and on unless she was deflected. 

"Yeah, I did. I didn't even know there was any kind of problem with Azkaban." Millicent admitted.

"Wait, what's this?" Hermione asked. "I don't remember seeing that."

"It was buried in the back pages, just a blurb. I might not have noticed it if my father hadn't told me about what was going on." Draco explained.

"What's been going on?"

"Muggles, that's what. Nosy, annoying, stupid muggles."

"Muggles in helicopters and small planes have been all over the north sea since the dementors vanished." Harry explained. "We're not sure what they noticed, but they noticed something going on there. The island itself is hidden from their sight and there's a muggle repelling ward anchored a good distance out from the island, as well as markers muggles would recognize to warn of rocks beneath the water so that boats won't be tempted to come too close in the first place. A whole bunch of helicopters showed up shortly after the dementors disappeared and were flying all over the area, back and forth, for hours, like they were looking for something. Our Ministry spread the word and told the muggles to pull their people back and make it stop. It did for a little while, but then it started up again, but this time all the muggle governments swore it wasn't their people doing it. The ministry and the ICW finally decided the Azkaban location was compromised and drawing too much attention, so they decided to move the prison elsewhere. With the dementors gone, there's no real reason they have to keep it on an island anymore. No one was real happy about it, but the muggles searching there are persistent and the helicopters seem to be heavily armed as well, whoever they are. Apparently since last Christmas the Ministry has been constructing a new prison elsewhere and slowly removing all traces of magic from the island. It was all kept hush-hush, as part of why Azkaban was so secure is because no one was really sure where it was. They must be done moving, so they put the word out to warn off any magical people wanting to go there." Harry explained. 

"That's worrisome." Hermione mused. "But who are these people and what are they looking for?"

"Something probably blipped on one of their scientific instruments that they couldn't explain. When they went out to look, if any of them realized they couldn't quite get to where they were headed for, that would have gotten them curious. Being told to stand down right after by their governments would have just made them more curious. It's probably a government black-ops group, and they're just denying it. Nosy buggers." Theo muttered. 

"It is worrisome though. If they can suddenly get to the island and find nothing there, that's not going to make the problem go away, whatever the Ministry thinks. If anything, it's just going to make these people, whoever they are, more curious and more determined." Millicent added.

"I hate muggles. Why can't they bloody well just go away already?" Draco concluded. 

"Let's not blame them all for the actions of a few." Millicent warned "But still, the helicopters being so persistent and heavily armed is troubling." 

"I'm sure the Ministry is on top of things." Ron assured her. 

 

Later, when the kids had regrouped in the Garden, after completing the day's homework, the subject came up again.

"If it is rebels among the muggles, it could be a problem for us." Sasha Miller, a sixth year Slytherin pointed out. "All the more because they're well-armed."

"It just makes what we're doing all the more important. Has Sirius or Remus made any headway on designing a ship? Have we gotten anywhere with those scans from Knowhere? We can't really move ahead on the space program without a space ship." Adrien Pucey, who hadn't been able to be around that summer, wondered.

"We've been slowly going through it and giving it to Barty when we think we've deciphered bits of it. He, Sirius and Remus have been going through it when they get a chance, but Sirius is tied up with the train project, Remus was over the summer, but now he's tied up with classes again. Barty has been taking Uni classes so he can be of help, and he's been getting through them as quickly as can be reasonably expected, but he's still one guy and there's only so much he can be expected to do. He probably won't be done with all the introductory classes until mid-winter, even pushing like he's been doing. It will be a while before he has a strong enough grasp on aeronautic engineering to really push ahead on things. We asked Penny to try to schedule times for Sirius to get back to classes so we can move ahead some. We'll see how that goes. We've still only gotten through a small amount of the ship scans so far. Trying to unpack them and make sense of what we're looking at is going to take a while." Lee explained.

There was several glum, but unsurprised, sighs throughout the room. 

"That makes it all the more imperative that we keep an eye on this situation and get to the bottom of it. It may be years before we have any real progress. We need to make sure we actually have those years." Theo pointed out.

"What can we do?" Sally Anne wondered.

"I dunno. Can we make an Azkaban in a globe?" Vincent asked.

Tom, who had been fiddling with something through most of the meeting, looked up distractedly when he felt eyes on him.

"Hmmm?"

"Azkaban in a globe. Can we make one so we can keep an eye on these muggles?"

"Oh, darlings, I'm way ahead of you on that."

"You already made one?" Harry guessed.

"The moment I heard about the first incident. I was glad I had when they kept coming back. Something drew their attention there. I wanted to know what it was so we could guard against it in the future. From what I've learned, the first helicopters belonged to something called S.H.I.E.L.D., which is some muggle military special ops thing that's run by a world security council or something. The later helicopters were unmarked. I managed to tag them and the people inside and then attached the tags to a map on which I plotted S.H.I.E.L.D. I wanted to see if they were actually part of that organization and they were just lying about it. I haven't actually checked up on any of it since I set it running."

"Well, let's take a look and see what you've found." Harry decided. 

Only the original Garden members--pre-expansion-- ended up following Tom back to his workroom, the rest opted to get back to work on their individual projects and education as they now felt the urgency a bit more than usual. 

Tom dug a largish rolled-up parchment from one of the many cubbies that lined his back wall and unrolled it across the central table, enlarging it a bit more so everyone could see it easier. Lee and the twins helped secure the corners so it lay flat. All of them gathered around and studied it.

"These" Tom pointed to a bunch of red triangles scattered across the map "are S.H.I.E.L.D bases. The red lines crisscrossing the map seem to be mobile command units. I can only assume they're on airplanes or something as they travel across the globe constantly. I was able to plot them, but without having a solid location to lock on to I can't make one in a globe without having it right in front of me to anchor directly. These bright green lines are all the locations the folks on the helicopters have gone to since I marked them, and the purple are the locations and travels of the helicopters themselves."

"Looks like S.H.I.E.L.D. has been lying to their governments, or their governments have just been lying to us." Fred noted. "Those folks have been in several of their bases…though the helicopters haven't."

"Which probably means something, but what?" George wondered.

"Well…it could mean that the trip wasn't authorized by S.H.I.E.L.D. though it was some of their personnel involved, or that it was authorized and they just grabbed the helicopters from somewhere else so they weren't marked as theirs." Tom reasoned. "The question, of course, is which is it?" 

"Well… we have the approximate location of where the helicopters are. We can try taking a peek there and see what's there. Is it a military base, or is this some millionaire's personal helicopter collection?" Kendall wondered.

"We also know which of the bases they've been frequenting. We can try peeking in there and seeing what's what. Maybe we can get some idea of how known and authorized all the snooping is." Bernard agreed.

"Give me a day or two to whip up a few globes and we'll start our surveillance." Tom agreed.

"Alright, now that's settled, let's get back to work. Vince, Greg, continue on with the next gen action figures. Lee, Bernard, Kendall, get back to trying to decipher the ship scans. Ron, Draco, Theo, poke at the scans we made of the wormhole thing on Knowhere and the Bifrost scans and see what you can make of them. Nev, Millie, get your people pushing on their education so we can start putting together a plan for terraforming a planet sooner rather than later. Hopefully we'll be able to diffuse whatever the deal with those nosy muggles is, but if we can't…" Harry said.

"The space program is suddenly much more important…"  
"…and we may not have as much time as we thought we did." Fred and George agreed. 

"I'll help with the transport scans." Fred then offered.

"I'll help with the ship ones." George added. 

"What will you, Tom, Luna and Colin be doing?" Ron wondered.

"Working on universal translators." Luna replied. "We've got scans of several of the things in action, and scans of the place where they install and calibrate them." 

"We deciphered some of it, but there's a lot of it we're still unsure of. Tom's got some ideas on how to make one work, but they're still rough." Harry explained.

"Loki said having one established your place at the higher end of the galactic pecking order. I don't intend to be lost among a sea of aliens with no idea who means us ill and who doesn't." Tom added.

"Lots to do." Theo sighed. 

"Yes. Best get to it." Draco agreed.

 

In spite of their renewed determination, it was easier said than done. Between classes, meals, sleeping, and time for homework there were very few hours in any given day to actually work on the project. Still, they persevered. 

"I've finished." Tom announced three days later.

"Good. We could all use a break." Lee said cheerfully. Anyone who wasn't working on something else of importance had been moved to working on the ship, wormhole and bifrost scans from Knowhere to help unpack and decipher them. Even with the extra helpers it was still slow going as they often weren't sure what they were looking at. They had made some progress, but not nearly as much in three days as they might have hoped.

"What should we look at first?" Draco wondered.

"How about the helicopters?" Fred suggested.

"I actually did peek in there already. It didn't tell me much more than we knew already. It seems to be a secret base of some sort. There's a bunch of unmarked, heavily armed helicopters, small jet planes, also armed, and stockpiles of weapons there. It doesn't seem to be manned, or at least I didn't see anyone there when I peeked in earlier." Tom explained.

"Well, let's take a look. Maybe if we spread out we can learn more." George spoke up.

Everyone rose and stretched, feeling stiff from sitting bent over the scans for hours and headed for the training room to activate the globe. 

"Everyone spread out in a circle." Tom ordered. 

He activated the globe and the kids found themselves hovering over the ocean, which seemed to rise up and engulf them as the view expanded. 

"It's underwater?" Kendall said in surprise. "I assumed there must have been a little island out here or something." 

"Whoa." 

The kids could only gape at the place as it rushed past their view, until they were deep inside.

"How the heck did helicopters get out of here? You wouldn't think their spinning things would work under the ocean." Ron wondered.

"See that? It extends towards the surface to let the planes and helicopters out." Tom pointed.

"This goes way beyond what we thought they were capable of here on earth. Look at this place." 

"I know, this is futuristic comic-book stuff." Tom agreed. "The helicopters are this way." 

Deep in the heart of the underwater base was an armory. A dozen small, heavily, armed, fast-looking jet planes stood lined up and ready to deploy, along with a trio of black, unmarked helicopters, also armed. Guns, rocket launchers, grenades and body armor lined the walls, enough to outfit a small army. 

"This isn't making me feel any better." Harry admitted.

"Nor the rest of us." Bernard agreed.

"Spread out. There's has to be a clue somewhere what this place is and who it belongs to." Theo suggested, already heading off into the rest of the base. 

The rest of them followed suit. All they found was bare essentials barracks for soldiers, a large room filled with computers and very large monitors, stockpiles of food and bullets…

"Whoever this is, they've got friggin submarines too." 

"Who are these people? We haven't seen a single flag or logo or anything…"

"Actually, that's not completely true…there's a dead octopus on the wall over here." Bernard called.

The rest of the kids hurried over and gaped at the logo painted on the wall. It was done in red against the black wall-- a skull and six tentacle legs.

"Huh. Weird. Why a dead… It's not an octopus or a squid. It only has six legs."

"So, the guy who made it wasn't very smart. It's sort of like an octopus, but dead…so _underwater and we kill people._ Seems pretty clear to me." Ron grumbled, glaring at the logo in distaste.

"I think we've seen all there is to see here. Without people here to listen in to, or anything to read off the computers, we won't be able to learn anything more here. Let's try the other place." Harry suggested.

Tom shut down the underground helicopter base and opened the second, the S.H.I.E.L.D. base and set it to expanding. 

"What is this place?" Draco said in disquiet as the base took shape around them.

"Look at all the muggles." Ron said with awe.

"This place is huge." Millicent noted.

"Looks like we'll need to spread out again." Theo sighed.

"Yeah."

"You know what? I think we should have brought the scanners. Look at this stuff. This is way better than anything we saw at MIT. That underwater base, same thing." Lee noted.

"Yeah… it's beginning to look like the muggles are more advanced than even most of them know." Bernard agreed.

The kids exchanged an uneasy look and spread out. 

 

When they regrouped two hours later, Tom shut down the base while the rest stayed in a circle to discuss what they found.

"The muggles are way more advanced than we gave them credit for. They have surveillance EVERYWHERE. They've got programs running facial recognition programs on views coming from cameras all over, and every so often they get a hit on someone they're looking for." Lee noted.

"They're everywhere too. I hung out in one big room because there was a lot of people coming and going the whole time. They send people out all over the world to assassinate people, to fight terrorists, to infiltrate groups, to watch for suspicious activity. This organization is HUGE, and they have hundreds of thousands of people that do nothing but watch everyone all day every day. It's horrifying." Bernard added.

"Did you hear anything about the north sea?" Tom wanted to know.

"No. Either they're not the ones, the organization I mean, that are looking in to it, or it's not being handled through this base, even if this is where those guys came back to. I just don't know." There's so many people doing so many things it's kind of hard to keep track of it all." Draco admitted, sounding rather subdued. 

He'd grown up thinking muggles were little more than animals, really. Oh, he'd never been told that in so many words, but he had been assured wizards were by far superior in every way, while muggles were just silly creatures clogging up the world. Those beliefs had taken some rather hard hits in recent years.

"This organization is too big. We're probably going to have to keep coming back to learn anything worthwhile." Harry agreed with a sigh. 

It was always something, wasn't it? He just wanted to mine asteroids and move the wizards to space. Was that really so much to ask?

"Their technology at least I got a lead on." Tom spoke up. 

Even he was feeling subdued after peeking in at both places. 

"It's all made by Stark Industries. I actually met Howard Stark, the founder of the company, once years ago. He made a flying car, or rather he almost did, back in the forties. The people who saw it said it lifted off the ground, but then fell when it ran out of power. He was a brilliant man. Had he been a wizard and actually able to make all his big ideas work, humans might very well have a space-faring empire by now. It doesn't surprise me to find out his company is behind all the technology here." 

"Maybe we should go peek in on that guy and his company. It might give us a halfway point to better understand the scans from Knowhere." Kendall suggested.

"Howard Stark died a couple of years back. Car accident, he and his wife. The company is currently being run by a guy named Obadiah Stane. I don't know if that guy is a genius the way Howard Stark was, or if he's just an administrator. Howard had a son, Anthony, but from the little I overheard, he seems to be a spoiled rich kid who drinks too much and sleeps around, and has no real interest in running the company, which is why Stane is still doing it. It's probably worth a look, but we might be disappointed if Howard Stark was the real brains behind the company." he warned. 

"There was a couple of stationary SHIELD bases, right? Maybe we should peek in all of them just to get a better idea of what we're dealing with. We'll let your tracker keep running and keep tabs on the helicopter guys. If any more show up we'll tag them too. Maybe that'll give us a better idea of what they're after. In the meantime, we'll keep on with the scans and the translator and try to make some progress there. What else can we do but keep pushing forward?" Harry decided. 

 

Some days later, while the twelve OWL group was gathered in the library hammering out their latest batch of homework, Millicent suddenly leaned in and asked a question.

"What's up with Granger lately? She's being weird." 

"What do you mean?" Draco asked.

"She's over there. Watch." 

The whole group stealthily turned to watch Hermione, who was ensconced in a back corner of the library, surrounded by books.

"Looks normal to me." Theo noted.

"Those aren't school books. They're muggle books." Millicent disagreed. "Oh, here. Watch." 

A group of students were headed back towards where Hermione was. She broke off from making notes and nudged her pile of books so none of the spines were facing outward where they could read them. She watched them suspiciously until they'd continued past her and then began to carefully look around to see if anyone was watching her. The group hurriedly turned back to their homework before she noted them watching.

"She's got a bunch of muggle books, she doesn't want anyone taking an interest in what she's doing. She's been taking reams of notes and making a big check list. What's the deal there?"

Harry looked around carefully and then put up some wards so they wouldn't be overheard and then leaned in.

"I think she might be working on a space program." 

"By herself?" Theo snorted.

"What makes you think that? She has no interest in space." Ron objected.

"Yeah, but she wants to do something amazing that will get her recognized. Remember she was giving us all a hard time for trying to figure out how to make lightsabers? Well, that would have turned her mind to space. Muggles have a space program, wizards don't…or so she thinks. I'll bet anything she started thinking about it and thought _'hey! Everyone will be impressed if I take wizards to the stars!'_ and then started doing research to see what all she'd have to do to make it happen." 

"She can't possibly think to do it alone though. We have a whole big group and we still think it's going to be years yet before we can really make it happen!" Theo scoffed.

"Talk about arrogant." Millicent agreed.

"Now, I could be wrong, she could be working on something altogether different, but it seems the most likely." Harry shrugged.

"She's still got a lot of nerve. _We're_ running a space program!" Draco muttered irritably.

"If you're right about what she's trying to do, this could still be a problem." Ron noted. "She's just sitting out in the open, glaring and being suspicious. If anyone gets a look at what she's reading, puts two and two together… we might have rival space programs popping up all over. Not from Hermione. She'll spend the next couple of years trying to become an expert on every aspect of space travel and making lists before she even tries to do anything." 

"But she might still give the ideas to others who aren't part of the Garden." Theo realized. "And they might be able to just jump ahead because they're done with Hogwarts and can just jump right in the deep end."

"Or they brag in the wrong spot and the Ministry gets wind of the idea and gets in the middle of it." Draco noted. "That would be especially bad. Considering the crap Umbridge keeps trying to pull, I could see her taking away our patents and being real condescending about it." 

"I've never even met that woman and I already greatly dislike her." Millicent muttered.

"Slughorn incoming." Neville said quietly. Harry unobtrusively took down his wards while the rest bent back over their homework.

 

Slughorn smiled rather gleefully when he spotted all of them and bustled over, putting up his own wards as he did so.

"Well! This is a fortuitous meeting! I don't mind saying you children are rather difficult to get hold of. I'm going to be having a little get together in a few weeks. I do hope you'll all attend."

"I'm always up for a party." Ron said peaceably. "What's the occasion?"

"A few fellows, friends of mine, recently attended a symposium to discuss an artifact that Mr. Potter made. I was curious and invited a few of them to come speak about it, along with a few other persons of interest."

"That I made?" Harry said in surprise.

"You were studying light and how it interacts in multidimensional space, I believe?"

"Oh. The tesseract I made? Gosh. That was a while ago. I'd completely forgotten about it, to be honest. So folks were able to do something more with it? Huh. That should be interesting. I'm curious now."

"Yes, Mr. Riddle mentioned you might be. October 4th at six o' clock. You'll all receive an invitation closer to the date. I do hope to see you all there." 

He bustled off looking well pleased with himself and rubbing his hands together.

 

"What did professor Slughorn want?" 

The kids twitched and glanced over to see Hermione standing a little ways away, clutching the strap of her very-full book bag and looking a bit frazzled. She must have started scrambling to pack up and hustle over here the moment she spotted him. She had remained disdainful of Slughorn until she'd heard he was a bit of a kingmaker and got people places they wanted to go. Since learning that she'd been trying desperately to get his attention. 

"He invited us to a party."

"All of you? Maybe he didn't see me over there…" she mumbled to herself before hurrying in the same direction she'd seen him leave.

"Mental." Ron shook his head as he watched her leave. 

"You know, we probably should get her under contract if you're right." Neville mused, also watching the girl hurry away. 

"I'm not sure how much help she'll be." Millicent shook her head.

"We probably should still do so just to save ourselves a headache later…not to mention keep her from going on a murderous rampage in a few years when she finds out we were already doing what she was planning." Draco noted.

"Where would we even put her? The teams we have now run like well-oiled machines, anyway, I took her off the table remember?" Harry pouted.

"Yeah. He might have a point though. She's been a security problem practically from day one. Maybe we should just get her under contract already and remove the threat once and for all." Theo sighed.

"At least hold off until we have something specific for her to do. As it stands now there's no real place for her." Harry objected.

"That's fair, I guess. We should spread the world to keep our ears open for rival space programs though so Remus can obliviate them." Ron suggested. 

The rest nodded and got back to work.

 

"The party should be starting soon. You about ready to go, Ron?"

"Yeah." Ron replied, following Harry down to the common room. "Where's Neville?"

"He went to get Hannah. He said they'd meet us there." 

"Oh. I, um, have to wait. For my date." Ron mumbled, face going red.

"You have a date for the party?" Harry asked in surprise. 

He studied Ron's face a moment and began to grow suspicious. 

"Who is it?"

A clatter on the stairs drew his attention, and Hermione rushed down. 

"Oh good, you haven't left yet. Let's go. We don't want to be late!" she said breathlessly as she started for the door. 

Harry looked at Ron incredulously. 

_"She cornered me and said she was going to this party come hell or high water. What was I going to say? You know how scary she gets when her mind is set on something!"_ Ron whispered.

"Come on!" Hermione barked from the doorway. "It's nearly six." 

They started down the stairs, and ran into Millicent, with her date Vince, Theo and Daphne, Draco and Pansy, and of course Tom. 

"Ladies. You're all looking especially lovely tonight." Harry noted as they started towards Slughorn's quarters.

Hermione made a little disgruntled 'hmph'.

"I didn't exactly get a chance to compliment you." Harry reminded her dryly. "You were down the stairs, out the door and barking orders before I even knew you were there." 

Up ahead they could see some of the sixth and seventh years from the Garden heading in the same direction.

"You two are the only ones without dates." Daphne noted, eyeing Harry and Tom.

"I didn't realize it was required." Harry shrugged.

"I couldn't be bothered." Tom added. 

 

Professor Slughorn was in his element. He had velvet smoking jacket and a jaunty fez for the occasion, and was already schmoozing and name-dropping like a champ. His eyes lit up when he spotted all of them, flitted over Hermione and stilled for a moment in surprise before moving on. It was the barest hesitation, but Hermione caught it and had to lower her eyes so no one would catch the small flare of triumph in them. 

"Welcome, welcome! Don't be shy. Thomas, dear boy, come here a moment would you? I'd like to introduce you to Tiberius Ogden, current British representative to the ICW. He was quite impressed with your article about weather prediction and the stir it made." 

Ogden, who was an elderly gentleman with grey shoulder-length hair and a handlebar moustache, had been speaking to Dumbledore, who it seemed was also a guest at the party. Dumbledore looked frustrated for a bare instant when the man turned to greet Tom and began chattering at him. Harry could only guess that he'd been trying to influence the man on something to do with the ICW and knew whatever headway he'd made was likely ruined by the interruption. It must be frustrating for the old guy. He once had been able to set the world turning with a word dropped in the right ear. These days he was exactly what he'd always told everyone he was--a simple headmaster. Dumbledore's reputation had taken a number of hits in the wake of the whole business at Azkaban, and though he was still quite respected, he was no longer held in quite the same awe he once had been. Dumbledore caught his eye, and must have seen some of the direction his thoughts had taken as a wry smile quirked his lips. 

"Harry, dear boy, how are you this fine evening?"

"Can't complain, sir. You?"

"I'm quite well, quite well indeed. Have you tried the crab puffs? They're really quite delightful."

"Not yet, but I'll be sure to do so." 

"Oh! Good. We're not too late." Neville said, sounding slightly out of breath. 

He and Hannah were both slightly disheveled. Harry snorted upon catching sight of them. 

"Well, no need to wonder where you two were."

Neville and Hannah both glared at him, but then caught sight of the headmaster eyeing them both with amusement and flushed in embarrassment.

"Spring seems to have come early this year." Dumbledore teased.

They were spared further embarrassment by Slughorn, who had yet another guest in tow. 

"Harry, lad, just the fellow I wanted to see. Chumsford, this here is Harry Potter, the young fellow who got all that business started. Harry lad, this is Chumsford Walgrove-Smythe. He's the fellow I mentioned who was at that symposium this summer."

"Oh? Nice to meet you, sir. So, did anything come of my little experiment?"

"Oh goodness, yes. A whole bunch of us did your experiment for ourselves and a few told friends who also did it, but then we realized, upon some folks comparing their efforts, that not everyone's came out quite the same. That's why we ended up having a conference about it. It turns out different populations don't actually do magic the same…oh, it's a small enough difference that we never really noticed, but this made it obvious. We're actually all on slightly different frequencies! That got us to thinking, and it turns out we were right. There's lots of old artifacts lying about that folks can't make heads nor tails of. I used to be a curse breaker myself, and I had a fair few that I've been poking at on and off for years, but couldn't quite figure out what they did. Well, this whole frequency of magic thing got me thinking, and so I and some friends of mine tried poking at them with different frequencies of magic, and wouldn't you know?! We figured it out!" 

"Really?"

"Yes! I unraveled three of the five artifacts I couldn't made heads or tails of already. The last two are quite a bit older than the others and from further afield. I probably just haven't found the right frequency to unravel them yet. But yes, it was a tremendous breakthrough. So much stuff gets classified out of hand as 'dark magic', when in reality it might just be different magic, and not mysterious at all once you get the right frequency."

"Has anyone considered whether there could be medical uses for this discovery?" Neville asked, his voice flat with the effort of keeping his rising hopes suppressed.

"Medical? Huh. I don't rightly know. I've always worked with artifacts, not people, so honestly it didn't even occur to me to wonder. But, you know, you make a fair point. I don't see any reason why not. I mean, take the werewolf curse, for example. It's thousands of years old, and it spreads like a disease. It's both old and very likely mutated along the way as it worked its way through different populations. It could very well be that something like this would actually make it possible to unravel it once and for all. Huh. I'm going to have to drop a word with some of my friends that are healers and see what they make of it." 

Harry caught movement out of the corner of his eye and spotted Remus looking like he'd just seen heaven in the distance. Remus looked at Dumbledore with a terrible hope on his face that he was obviously doing his best to wrestle into submission. Dumbledore, who had a new gleam in his eye nodded at him and smiled. 

"Oh, before I forget, this is what we've come up with so far. It's yours. I figured you'd get a kick out of it." Chumsford said suddenly, as he dug around in his pocket. He withdrew a thing that was slightly nauseating to look at, filled with rainbow light. 

"Seven dimensions. As you can see, parts of it get easier to differentiate as you follow them through all the bends. The rainbow is a lot wider too." 

Harry took the thing gingerly and peered down into it in interest.

"Seven seems to be our limit to look at comfortably. We tried doing eight but it was too much. Seven is better anyway, most magical number and all. This bit in here seems to be the frequency of British magic…" 

"Yeah. That's what I got too, though mine veers off into these parts a bit."

"Your folks come over with the Norman invasion?"

"Uh, yeah? My dad's side of the family at least. Not sure about mum." 

"That would explain it. That was something else we found. Mixed populations, their frequency changes, or sometimes they draw on a couple of frequencies. There's a bunch of papers that were written. There's supposed to be a special edition of Charms monthly coming out next month that covers them if you're interested."

"Yeah? I'll have to look into that." 

Harry caught Dumbledore staring at the thing in his hand and sighed. He really would like to poke at it a bit himself, but Remus possibly getting cured had precedence over his curiosity. He handed it over to the headmaster with only a little regret.

"I want it back." he warned.

"Never fear, my boy. It will be back in your hands before year's end." Dumbledore promised, before tucking it away in his robes.


	4. All about Hermione

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The foreign students arrive and the Tri-Wizard Tournament is opened. Hermione is brought in to the Garden.

Now that October was well on its way and the arrival of the foreign students slowly drawing closer, the staff seemed to suddenly become concerned with the state of the castle. The students soon found all their free time being eaten away as they were put to work scrubbing the castle down from top to bottom. The Garden kids soon had to accept that their projects would be stalled until all the cleaning was done.

Another annoyance, for Harry at least, was that he kept stumbling across Dean and Ginny Weasley kissing all over the place while they were supposed to be cleaning. He'd make noise so they'd jump apart…and Ginny always looked pleased for some reason. It happened enough times that he began wondering if Dean was pressuring her and she was relieved to have a distraction. He became concerned enough that he decided to talk to Dean about it.

"Pressuring her? HA! If anything, she's pressuring me! Every time I turn around, she's right there being cute and rubbing my arm…girl's like an octopus, I swear. She's all over me. It's not her fault, of course. I am pretty studly…and I'm an artist. Everyone knows the birds dig that."

"Huh. Well, alright. You're on your own if one of her brothers finds you two though. You're lucky it's been me that keeps stumbling across you. Try to keep a lid on things too. She's only a third year. You're older. It's your responsibility to put the brakes on."

"Whoa, slow down. It's not like that. I'm not sure she really knows what comes next, to be honest. We're just having some fun."

"Whatever mate. I don't think I'd be so relaxed at having an insane girl anywhere near my bits."

"Makes it more exciting, really. Every time we get caught I'm sure I'm about to die. It's exhausting…but it's kind of cool too."

"I guess we know now why you're in Gryffindor." Harry laughed.

Relieved, he went about his business. He was getting kind of sick of breaking up their love fest though, so he roped Neville and Seamus into playing watchdog while he kept Ron distracted cleaning at the other end of the hall.

 

"Lee? Do you have a moment?"

"Professor Lupin? Sure. What's up?"

Remus gestured for him to join him in his office. Once there he handed him a box.

"What's all this?" Lee asked as he opened it. He peered inside the box and his face went taut.

"Those guys you all hired spiffed up our PDAs already?" he asked, voice flat.

Remus suppressed the urge to sigh. It had been an uphill battle getting the kids to part with even this small bit of their project. Now that they'd made such quick work of gussying it up, he could only assume their pride had been bruised. Best nip this in the bud before he had an open rebellion on his hands.

"You and your group already did the heavy lifting. All they did was streamline everything, which is a much smaller job than making them in the first place. I believe one worked on the device itself and the other tweaked the programs so they'd be a bit more efficient. They seem pleased with whatever it was they've done. You'll all have to decide whether what they did was better than what you already had, I suppose."

Lee grimaced, only slightly mollified.

"What about the server? We gave them one of those too."

"Ah…oh, here. It's in another box, along with detailed notes on what they did so you can upgrade the rest of them."

"I'm not sure it's a good thing or a bad thing that we got these now. On the one hand, everyone's busy cleaning, so that gives us time to upgrade without everyone complaining…but we're cleaning too, which means finding time to do it will be tricky."

"I can get you, Kendall and Bernard pulled from cleaning duty to do this, I think, though you'll have to try to be quick as I don't think any of the other professors will look kindly on you three skipping out altogether." he warned.

"Really? That would be great. I'll have to tell everyone to give us their PDAs so we can upgrade them. I hope they didn't just mess everything up."

"Barty was supervising them, so I doubt that's the case."

"I sure hope so. In any case, we'll get right on this."

The kids grumbled a bit at having to turn in their PDAs once he sent out a group message, upgrade or not, but they handed them in and cursed them good-naturedly about getting out of the ever-present cleaning duty.

 

Finally the other schools were due to arrive. All the students were sent off to get spiffed up, and each house was lined up and inspected to be sure their robes were pressed, their shoes were polished, and their ties were straight before they were allowed to go outside and line up to await everyone's arrival. The whole school was proudly lined up by house in nice straight lines right at first, but as the minutes ticked by the straight lines wavered and the students began clumping together for warmth. Ginny did her best to crawl into Dean's cloak with him. Neville and Seamus shifted to hide them from Ron, who was on the other side. Unfortunately for Dean, the twins saw them and pushed their way through the crowd to drag Ginny off by the back of her cloak to stand between them. They were quite unmoved by her complaints.

"I hope they get here soon. As it is, by the time we finish dinner it'll be too late to do any work. A whole month. Gone!" Draco Malfoy muttered wrathfully.

"Tell me about it." Theo agreed.

"We've gotten some work done." Tom gestured to his roommates which were huddled a short distance away. "Though granted it wasn't for our project. We've been working with Barty by mirror on a guidance system for the trains. Which reminds me, we need to make model trains and stations. I've got the specs for the real ones they're making so we can do them properly."

"What for?"

"To test the system and make sure it works before they try putting it on any real trains. We need to get that working. The company has already started building the stations and a couple of trains to start off with. We need to know the transports can be up and running by next summer to take advantage of tourist season."

"Okay."

"Once we get the hang of sending them around Hogwarts we're supposed to send some to Barty, to Lucius, to Nott Sr., to Andromeda to run long-distance tests. If those work as expected Barty and them will try sending the models to the actual stations as a final test before installing the system on a full-sized train and sending that off."

"Sounds like fun."

"It should be."

"LOOK! Something's coming!" a voice cried out from the crowd.

Everyone began craning their heads around, until a bunch of dots in the sky slowly began getting bigger.

"It's flying elephants!"

"No…they're horses! Big horses."

As they got closer they could see there was a bunch of carriages the size of a small cottage, each pulled by a couple of very large pegasi that were in fact the size of elephants.

"Abraxans. Nice ones. Look at the size of them!" Draco said admiringly.

In fact, the horses and carriages were so big that at first they didn't realize how very large the woman who got out of one of them was…that is, until the students began coming out of the others.

"Dang. She's gotta be ten, twelve foot tall. Old Hagrid is practically spoiled for choice these days, isn't he?" Ron laughed.

"He better not be." Harry growled.

"Hagrid and Hela are still together then?" Neville wondered.

"As far as I know. It isn't like I've really made a lot of inquiries. Maybe I should find out."

The Beauxbatons students were in thin, silky, powder blue uniforms. They were soon huddled together and shivering, looking quite miserable.

"Ah, my dear Maxime, Welcome to Hogwarts."

"Zhank you Dumblydoor, eet iz good to be here."

"Why don't you and your students head inside while we wait for the students of Durmstrang to arrive".

Madame Maxime cast an eye over her shivering students and nodded.

"Yes, that would perhaps be for zhe best."

"Look! Something's happening with the lake!"

The students turned from watching the Beauxbatons delegation hurry inside shivering and saw the lake bubbling and boiling. Slowly, a ship rose from the depths. It looked a bit like one would expect an old ghostly pirate ship to look, with the tall sails and rigging. When it had fully risen the lake slowly calmed and it drifted closer to shore. Red-clad students on deck sent out a gangplank and then lined up to follow a tall lanky fellow in black down to meet everyone.

"Welcome, Headmaster Karkaroff, to Hogwarts. I do hope you'll all enjoy your stay. "

_"EEE! Viktor Krum!"_ Ron hissed excitedly, grabbing Harry and Neville's arms and dancing in place. _"He's really here!"_

"It's probably a good thing old Percy's not here anymore."  
"Yeah, all those rumors would start right up again." Fred and George lamented from further back in the crowd.

The Hogwarts students followed the teachers and the Durmstrang delegation inside gratefully. Dressed for the weather or not, it got cold standing around outside this time of year.

When everyone took their seats in the great hall, they realized there were a few Ministry folks there as well, up at the high table with the teachers. There was also a big box sitting on the dais with them in front of the table.

Once everyone had quieted down, Dumbledore rose to address the students.

"I would like to take this time to formally welcome our guests. First, the lovely students of Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, led by their esteemed headmistress Madame Olympe Maxime."

The French students, who had taken the time to both warm up and freshen up, pranced into the room in a long line. Their silky uniforms seemed to hide a lot less, though in truth they didn't actually show much more than Hogwarts' shapeless robes did. There were a lot of glaring girls in the audience, who didn't appreciate how many Hogwarts boys were ogling the girls in blue. Everyone clapped as they bowed or curtseyed, and then were directed to take seats with the Ravenclaws while Madame Maxime joined the teachers at the high table.

"And now, from Durmstrang Institute, our brothers to the north led by Headmaster Igor Karkaroff."

The delegation from Durmstrang seemed to be made up solely of tall, burly boys in red wool uniforms with fur hats and fur half-capes overtop. Where the students of Beauxbatons pranced, the boys of Durmstrang swaggered. There was now a bunch of glaring boys in the audience as many of the Hogwarts girls giggled and ogled them. It didn't help that the boys noticed and many were grinning back at any girls that caught their eyes.

Durmstrang was sent to go sit with Slytherin house, which had Ron, and many others grumbling in protest that the Slytherins got to hang out with Viktor Krum.

"He put the Frenchies with Ravenclaw, but they're all in blue, which makes sense. Durmstrang is in red. They should be over here with us!"

"All right, everyone. I know we're very excited to meet our newest friends, but now it is time to feast!"

The tables were soon groaning with food and drink. The house elves had gone all out, and seemed to have taken the trouble to include some new foods for their foreign visitors.  
Everyone soon noticed Hermione was grinding her teeth.

"What's wrong?"

"That stupid blonde French tart has been badmouthing Hogwarts almost constantly since she sat down!" she hissed. _"Oh, 'ogwarts is so cold and bleak! Beauxbatons is much more beautiful and forest nymphs serenade us when we dine! Blah, blah, blah."_ She hasn't had a good thing to say yet! She should bloody well go back to France."

"Gee, Hermione. Tell us how you really feel." Seamus joked, which set the rest of them laughing.

They abruptly stopped when the blonde in question came over to them.

"Excuse me. Can we 'ave zhe bouillabaisse?"

 

_"I'm a famous millionaire adventurer!"_

_"I'm the minister of magic!"_

_"I happen to be a genius entrepreneur…and lucky you, I'm single!"_

 

Harry, Ron and Hermione looked around in astonishment as all their nearby (male) housemates seemed to lose their minds. The blonde's jaw tightened, but otherwise she ignored the commotion.

"Zhe bouillabaise?"

"Oh, sorry. Sure, go ahead and take it Miss…?"

"Delacour. Fleur Delacour."

"Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger. Nice to meet you. Do pardon our housemates. We're not used to such, uh, distractions, around here. We'll get them sorted out."

Harry promised while handing over the soup tureen. She nodded and hurried back to the Ravenclaw table.  
Once she was gone, the boys lost the glazed looks they'd been sporting and got embarrassed at how they'd been acting.

"Damn…that is one hot girl." Dean opined, sounding rather dazed.

"Maybe I need to relocate after I graduate. They seem to build them turbo-charged in France." Seamus agreed, grinning stupidly.

"She's gotta be a veela. That's just how I was acting at the World Cup." Ron shook his head.

"Part veela, more like." Neville disagreed. He could feel Hannah glaring at the back of his head, and it was making the back of his neck sweat.

"Don't be ridiculous. She is not. You're all just being horrible." Hermione snarled.

"Yeah, and they'd better watch it if they know what's good for them." Ginny added her own warning, while glaring baleful death at Dean, who cringed.

 

As the feast wound to a close and the food and dishes disappeared, Dumbledore rose again.

"As you know, you are all gathered here for the Tri-Wizard Tournament that will be taking place at Hogwarts this year. Here to tell you more about it and to open the tournament for the year is our head of International Relations, Pius Thickness."

One of the ministry reps stood and moved onto the dais to stand beside the large box that was there, while the two fellows with him moved towards the box itself.

"The Tri-Wizard Tournament has a long, proud tradition. Three schools, three champions, three tasks--each designed to test the chosen champions in mind, body and spirit to the fullest of their capabilities. It was always a dangerous tournament, there were in fact a number of fatalities over the years that it was held. This tournament will also be dangerous. If you submit your name for consideration and are chosen to represent your school, you will in fact be taking your life into your hands, so please consider carefully before you do so. As I'm sure your headmasters and headmistress informed you, this year we have instituted a limit on the contenders. Only those who are of age may submit their names for consideration. We would rather not revisit the fatalities of the past, and this restriction will at least limit the pool to those who are in the last years of their education. An age line will be put in place to bar anyone underage from participating, and I ask that no one submit names of anyone underage for consideration, even if they beg. Once chosen as a champion, you are bound to the tournament until its completion. It is a magically binding contract. There is no backing out once chosen."

He gestured to the two men with him, who began to unlatch the large box.

"Here, tonight, the Goblet of Fire, an ancient magical artifact that has chosen the champions for the tournament each time it was held since its beginnings in the 13th century, has been brought forth once more to do its job in choosing the best representatives from among those who put themselves forward for consideration. Once lit, it will continue to burn until the choosing, at which time it will go out. It will only be able to be relit when it is once more time to choose champions. As I said, once chosen, you are bound to participate until tournament's end, so choose wisely."

The candles began to grow dim, leaving the great hall in shadows. The goblet seemed to glow rather ominously in the dim light, calling forth whatever brave souls there were among them to come and join.

"To be chosen as a Tri-Wizard Champion, win or lose, marks you as a witch or wizard of outstanding bravery, wit and power. To win the Tri-Wizard Championship marks you as the best of your generation, and to the victor goes the prize--one thousand galleons, and eternal fame and glory!"

He drew his wand with a flourish and took three steps to the large goblet now proudly displayed in front of them.

"I, Pius Thickness, on behalf of the British Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, do hereby declare this, the 126th Tri-Wizard Tournament…OPEN!"

As his wand tapped the rim of the goblet, the whole thing seemed to chime, even as a great gout of flame whooshed up out of the cup.

"From this moment, you have twenty four hours to submit your name for consideration. If you dare."

As one, the students of Durmstrang rose to their feet and marched to the goblet and began submitting their names one after another. After they were done, Beauxbatons, not to be outdone, went up next to submit their own names. Each of them smiling nervously as the goblet accepted their entries. When they had retaken their seats, the students of Hogwarts looked around at one another.

"Look! I think they convinced him!" Parvati hissed.

"Tom's going to put his name in." Lavender squealed.

A low murmur began to travel through the room as a giddy ripple made its way down the Slytherin table. Tom accepted the piece of parchment and quill his roommates acquired for him. He wrote out his name with a flourish and stood. That's when the chant began.

"Riddle. Riddle. RIDDLE. RIDDLE. RIDDLE."

A slow measured clap began as he started making his way to the center of the room and down the aisle. The foreign students, their headmasters and the ministry officials all watched bemused as all of Hogwarts began to clap for their chosen champion. The cheer that rose when his name fluttered into the goblet was deafening, and the Garden group jumped to their feet to clap.

"You go, Tom!"  
"Hogwarts for the win!"  
"RIDDLE!"

 

When everyone came down for breakfast the next morning, the Goblet of Fire was in the entryway, surrounded by a golden line--the age line Pius Thicknesse had mentioned the night before. People gathered in crowds throughout the day to watch the Goblet burning; and among the foreign students at least, to see if anyone else was actually going to submit their names. A handful of sixth and seventh years--none of them members of the Garden--did so in the last hours before dinner.

The students were tense as they waited to hear which of them would be chosen.  
When dinner finished, the lights were once again lowered. All eyes were on the Goblet as the fire slowly got lower and lower. Pius Thicknesse stood nearby, waiting.

"Something's happening." Fred whispered.

"Ah, It looks like the goblet is ready. Our first champion, representing Beauxbatons Academy of Magic…" he tapped his wand once to the rim of the goblet and the fire flared high, releasing a slightly singed slip of paper, which Thicknesse caught as it fluttered down.

"Fleur Delacour!"

Everyone clapped as the pretty blonde--who it turned out was indeed part veela, much to Hermione's confusion and horror-- stood and was directed to the anteroom to await further instructions. Her schoolmates only clapped half-heartedly. Mostly they seemed rather bitter, and one fluttery girl broke down sobbing.

The fire dropped low again. "Our second champion, representing Durmstrang Institute…" he tapped his wand to the rim a second time and the fire flared once more, releasing another slip of paper. "Viktor Krum!"

Viktor got a much warmer reception from his schoolmates, who roared in approval and clapped him heartily on the back as he passed down the row.

The fire dropped a third time. "And our final champion, representing Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry… Tom Riddle!"

Hogwarts once again cheered as Tom sighed and made his way to join the other two. Up on the dais, the goblet of fire went out.

 

"Who's the little girl chatting with Luna? I didn't really notice her yesterday. She's wearing a Beauxbaton's uniform, but she looks like she's about eight. What is she even doing here?" Ron suddenly asked.

"Strangely enough, I actually know the answer to that." Parvati answered. "That's Gabrielle Delacour, Fleur Delacour's younger sister. Though she looks quite young, she's actually thirteen, not eight. She's here because they're part veela. So long as she's with her sister she'll stay like that. She'll start maturing when Fleur graduates and moves away. It's to stave off her developing a veela allure until she's old enough to deal with it."

"It sounds nice on paper--boys falling all over themselves every time you walk into a room" Lavender nodded. "But I've been watching Fleur, and you know, I don't think it's really all it's cracked up to be. As for Gabrielle, well, having hordes of boys crowd you everywhere you go when you're eleven or twelve? That would be terrifying. And, they're only part veela, which means they probably can't transform and throw fireballs if it gets to be too much."

Hermione made a face and shivered in disgust.

"I still can't believe anyone would… They're not even people, they're giant birds! Why would anyone…"

"I guess you haven't been paying attention. There's half-veelas, there's part-centaurs and part-fauns and part-nymphs, part-merfolk and part-vampires running around. There's also part-trolls, part-goblins… Most wizards have non-human heritage somewhere in their family tree…which means there's a lot more possibilities out there for partners than you seem to think." Lavender sighed.

"They're not even human!"

"And from a wizarding perspective that's actually preferable to a non-magical human. Creatures enhance and strengthen the magic in a line, muggles dilute it. The hardcore 'humans first and only' is a fairly recent thing, and it's led to the eroding of a lot of non-humans rights." Neville spoke up.

"All your most recent heritage is strictly human, non-magical human at that, but if you go back further, you have non-human heritage the same as the rest of us. That's why you have magic. That's where it comes from." Parvati added.

Hermione began looking distinctly green around the gills.

The students turned to look as the Champions, headmasters and the ministry reps came back out into the hall.

"The champions have all been apprised of their role in things. The first task will be taking place here at Hogwarts on November 24th."

"Maybe now that all the hoopla with the cleaning and the other schools arriving is over, we can get back to work." Seamus muttered quietly so Hermione wouldn't hear.

"Hopefully. I can't believe we lost a whole month to this thing." Dean nodded.

 

Unfortunately for the Garden group, it wasn't quite so easy to get back in the groove. School kicked in to high gear, likely to make up for the lapse while everyone was cleaning, or possibly to impress the foreign schools. They didn't know; all they did know was it was still difficult to find hours to squeeze in for their projects. The Slytherin members of their group came up with a solution to ease everyone's frustration.

"We'll have people coming in from all over to see the tournament. If the stupid thing is going to get in the way of our project, the very least we can do is make money from it!" Terrence Trent, a sixth year and one of Tom's roommates insisted.

"Exactly." Adrien Pucey, another sixth year agreed.

"What exactly did you have in mind?" Harry wondered.

"Merchandising." Zabini said with satisfaction. "We've been coming up with plans. Obviously the twins can get busy whipping up more fireworks at the very least, maybe some more prank items. Some of our people already helped make those before, so that should be no problem."

"We were also thinking that, the first task is going to be outside by the look of things. We can sell hot drinks to everyone while they're waiting." Daphne suggested.

"We can whip up some cheap hats and pom-poms or something for people to wave while they cheer. In fact, if we do some for all three champions we'll increase our chances of selling stuff." Terrence agreed.

"Posters. We can say they're limited edition and only make a few of each. If we can get all the champs to sign them, we can sell them for even more." Theo suggested.

"We'll probably have to give all the champs a commission, if that's the case." Susan pointed out.

"So we jack up the price a bit more to make up the difference. You figure with just Krum alone in them they're bound to be good sellers." Draco said dismissively.

"We could take pictures over the whole year and make a memory book or something." Luna suggested.

"We won't be able to sell those till the end of the year." Draco objected.

"We can take pre-orders and advertise it at each of the tasks. Muggle book stores do that sometimes for novels that are part of a series." Justin suggested.

"We could fill out the content with the history of the tournament….maybe short biographies of each of the delegates? Only one of them gets to be champion, but they're still stuck here for the rest of the year. They'll probably appreciate a bit of acknowledgement." Cedric mused.

"Calendars! We could do calendars featuring the delegates and the champs." Lavender squealed.

"We'll need to get estimates on how much all this will be to print up before we try it. It might be too expensive." Neville warned.

"I'm sure we can get a discount for a short run. Sirius' family owns a publishing house. I'm sure they can do the books and the calendars for cost. We'll probably have to give them at least a small commission though." Harry mused, already sending off an e-mail to Penny to find out for them.

"Excellent. The rest of you, come up with a few ideas for crap to sell and we'll regroup in say, a week, to vote on it and get started making everything." Terrence decided, rubbing his hands together excitedly.

"Hey, Tom." Harry greeted their champion when he stalked in a few minutes later. "What's with you?"

"I got pulled out of class for a wand weighing, and then had a stupid reporter simpering at me and the other champions for nearly an hour. The whole year better not be filled with such annoyances. I'm already regretting putting my name in." he grumbled.

"Don't be like that! Keep your eye on the prize…and just think of the merchandising!" Terrence chided.

Tom just sighed and rubbed his eyes. "Are the train models ready for the simulation testing?"

"Yeah. We worked out a schedule so someone can be by each of them all day. We're going to have them just running from station to station and back again one after another so we'll get a realistic test out of it." Kendall replied.

"Alright, whoever's doing that, best get to it. From what Barty said, that Delores Umbridge is still being a bit of a problem. Sirius wants lots of tests so we can honestly say the trains are as safe as humanly possible."

"Alright. We'll get started on that."

"I'll go test our prototype translator. I've been meaning to talk to the foreign students anyway." Luna offered. "I'll help." Colin agreed before grabbing a clipboard and wandering off after her.

"One less thing to worry about." Tom shrugged. "Everyone else, I just made more SHIELD bases in a globe if you want to come help us look around."

 

About half the kids gathered in the training room to see one of the SHIELD bases they'd heard about. When the view expanded, even the kids who'd been to the last one gasped in dismay.

"Good lord! Look at all the muggles!" Ron muttered.

"I think this place is even bigger than the last one." Harry added, sounding spooked.

"Spread out. Keep your ears peeled for any mention of magic, wizards, or the north sea."

"Roger."

Harry picked a direction at random and wandered off, keeping his eyes and ears open. He wandered past banks of security. Just getting in to this building in the real world seemed like a real hassle. He found a room filled with hundreds of computers manned by grim-faced workers, that seemed to be doing nothing but searching every paper, magazine, news program, talk show, telephone conversation and e-mails that were out there for key words. Any hits they got were shunted to another room full of computers where the hits were pieced together and people put on watch lists. Harry shuddered at the level of intrusion the muggles lived with in their everyday lives. Looking at all of this, it was actually rather amazing that the wizarding world hadn't been discovered years ago.

Once watch-lists were compiled, they were sent onto another room filled with computers where another group sifted through them and compiled reports and recommendations for intervention. In the time he stood there watching, no less than fifteen requests were sent off--muggles trying to build bombs, smuggling weapons, planning terrorist attacks on one place or another… killing each other seemed to be the muggles' hobby, to judge by this place.

More disquieted by all of it than he really cared to examine, he set off in a new direction and spotted an old woman with sharp eyes and a grim mouth with two heavily-armed body guards descending below in one of the glass elevators that dotted the building. A thought brought him into the elevator with them and down below. The woman strode off the moment the doors opened--old, she might be, but she walked with the air of someone who would walk right through you and barely notice if you got in her way. Harry scurried after them.

They came to a stop on a mezzanine overlooking a cavernous space that nearly dwarfed the very large building far above. Several high-ranking military men were there, a blonde guy in a suit, and a bald guy with a greying beard in a suit.

"Director Carter, so nice of you to join us." One of the military men greeted the old woman when she arrived.

The old woman gave the man a cool look in return. "General Bridges. Do excuse me. Protecting the world is a full-time job."

"British." Harry noted in surprise.

"As you can see, the helicarrier is slowly taking shape." the bald guy interjected smoothly. "Mr. Stark is still transforming the world, even years after his death."

"Howard always did have big ideas." Director Carter said with a sad twist to her mouth. "And he never forgot anything. I mentioned once how isolated I sometimes felt from operations while stationed here, and this was the result. It is a pity he'll never get to see her take to the air."

"Nor will you, sadly enough. Unless your retirement plans have changed?" the blonde fellow asked curiously.

Harry looked at the fellow and frowned. He wasn't sure what it was about him--he had a broad, honest face, clear blue eyes, was clean cut and clean shaven, well dressed and presented…but there was something about the fellow that put his teeth on edge. Lockhart flashbacks, probably.

Director Carter didn't even look at him, her eyes were still on the huge metal monstrosity taking shape down below.

"No, they haven't changed. I've been doing my best to keep the world safe for far too many years now. My children are grown. In a few more years my grandchildren will be grown. I've still a few good years left in me, but most of those with whom I started all this are gone now. I'm the last. It's apparently time for some new blood…so you need have no fear, Agent Pierce, that I will be standing in your way."

Harry eyed blondie. He was going to the be the new head of SHIELD. Good to know. He tagged him to be added to the map later.

"The helicarrier will be a state of the art mobile command center--able to be deployed on land, sea or air…" the bald guy launched into a spiel immediately, eager to move past the tense atmosphere.

As he detailed what all the helicarrier would be able to do once deployed, Harry started feeling ill again. It was going to be finished in a few years, and once it was, it was going to be getting real-time updates from all the bases, and would have armed troops, and airplanes, ready to deploy at a moment's notice from anywhere in the world. It was fitted with a number of sensors so it could gather real-time scientific data, and more easily spy on the world…and by the sound of it, the smarmy blonde guy was going to be in charge of everything once the old lady stepped down. It made him uneasy.

The old lady, for all that she was the commander of a creepily invasive black-ops military organization, seemed to see her job as protecting the world. The generals and the smarmy blonde, and the creepy bald guy…who was probably the Obadiah Stane Tom had mentioned, all looked at the helicarrier and listened to the rundown of its military capabilities with a gleam in their eyes that he didn't like at all. Director Carter hadn't retired yet, but she was already being subtly, or not so subtly, pushed aside to make room for the 'new blood' that would be taking over soon.

 

When everyone regrouped again, they were all subdued by all they'd seen and learned. Everyone found the idea of the helicarrier as worrisome as Harry had.

"At least it's not going to be finished for a few years yet. That's something at least." Ron offered.

"The shielding put up everywhere after my article about weather prediction should keep us from being noticed." Tom added.

"We can only hope." Millicent sighed.

"There's one more. Do you want to see it now?"

"Might as well." Theo nodded.

Tom closed down the base they'd been wandering around and opened up a new one. "I’m afraid it's more bad news." he warned.

"What could be worse than what we've already seen?" Harry demanded.

"This one is a school."

"How is that worse?"

"It's actually three schools. One is where they train their soldiers. One is where they train up all the grunts sifting through information. The last is their school of science and technology. You have to have a Ph.D to even be considered, and then you get trained up for a few years so you'll know enough to be useful for the organization."

Those there who were muggle born or raised paled. The rest looked around in confusion.

"What's that mean?" Ron wondered.

"The classes we've been taking? Those are the basics. Four years of classes at that level, a full complement of them, is the very basic degree. Two years beyond that, classes specializing in just your field is a master's degree. A doctorate is beyond that. You have to not only take classes and do research, you essentially have to write a book on something new and defend it to a panel of judges to get your degree. In the muggle world, a Ph.D is the highest level of education someone can have. What he's saying is that this school is so advanced that you have to have that kind of education to even be considered." Harry explained.

"We're all going to be murdered by rabid gun-toting muggles on aeroplanes before we get our space program anywhere, aren't we?" Draco whispered, aghast.

"Okay, that is supremely unhelpful. We haven't even peeked in to see what they're doing yet! Get a hold of yourself!" Millicent growled.

"Yes, do." Tom agreed as he activated the globe.

The kids once again spread out to look around. It was a sizeable campus with large buildings scattered across the area. "Well, come on. Let's see what we've got here."

 

Lee, Kendall, Bernard, Luna and Colin headed for the school of communications. Tom, the twins, Draco and Theo headed for the school of science and technology.

"I guess the rest of us get to look in on the soldiers." Harry noted. "Let's go."

He, Millicent, Neville, Ron, Vince and Greg headed that way. They heard noise in the woods, and so continued that way rather than into the buildings as they'd at first intended. As they were able to simply walk through the trees, they ended up walking through several hidden soldiers as they roamed around. Further back was an insane obstacle course. A dozen recruits were running it, slogging through mud, climbing walls, leaping from cliffs and darting through other obstacles, while grenades blew up around them, and they were shot at. They all jumped as a hidden soldier burst out of the water right below them and attacked one of the recruits running the course, while elsewhere another came under heavy fire while out in the open.

"I'm getting tired just watching them." Ron admitted.

"I thought it looked like fun." Greg objected. "I could do that, I bet."

"You're barmy, right Ha… Harry!"

Harry turned to look at him and smiled sheepishly. "It does look like fun." he shrugged.

"We should add an obstacle course to the training room." Millicent agreed. "Mix things up a bit."

"You're all barmy." Ron repeated.

As they headed back through the forest, a vicious fire-fight was taking place among the hidden soldiers and a few of the recruits who'd managed to make it through the obstacle course. They headed into the building and found more soldiers, doing push-ups, pull-ups, fighting against a heavy bag, engaged in hand-to hand combat. In another part there was a firing range where a line of soldiers were shooting at stationary targets, while elsewhere they were going through rooms with moving targets that would pop out suddenly. In the upper floors soldiers sat in classrooms learning tactics, survival skills, first aid and the ins and outs of SHIELD.

"You know, we should probably try and work some of these classes into our rotation, as well as step up our training room. It can only benefit us to know what they're capable of, what actions they're likely to take, how they think and how they'll react. If this is where they send all their soldiers, if we learn this stuff we'll theoretically be able to deal with any of their personnel."

"We're stretched so thin as it is." Neville sighed. "Where could we even fit this in?"

"Yeah. Point." Harry sighed.

"We don't have as many classes as the rest of you. We could take them if Tom starts recording them." Vince offered.

"And we can still add obstacles and step up our training some." Greg agreed.

"Tell him to start recording in six weeks. That's when a new batch comes in. Apparently more than half of every class washes out before they get to the point of taking classes or anything. The ones here that don't wash out will start classes fresh while a new group comes in to be put through their paces." Neville explained. "I overheard some of the teachers talking. They only expect about five of the current crop out in the field to make it."

"Damn. These guys don't play around, do they?"

 

When everyone regrouped, they all seemed a lot calmer.

"Good news?" Harry asked curiously.

"We think we're going to scrap the rest of our MIT classes and just start sitting in with the folks in communications once in a while. We've already gotten some good ideas, and they're building systems here, not just learning how to mine them for data, so we can probably upgrade what we've got before too long." Lee explained.

"How about you lot? Good news?" Ron asked hopefully.

"Possibly." Tom mused. "You know how Loki said at some point magic and science become indistinguishable? We think they're trying to find that point."

"Which means we may actually be ahead of the game not decades behind like we feared. We've been learning magic since we were eleven. They're still trying to grope towards the possibility." Theo agreed. "We were talking about bringing in Granger, remember? This might be the perfect thing to sic her on if we do."

"Hermione? Why?" Harry asked, bewildered.

"We need someone to keep an eye on these people. They have a lot of charts and diagrams. She loves those things. If they in any way resemble the kind of stuff McGonagall is always giving us, she'd probably be able to recognize it for what it is and know what they're trying to do. We were already discussing the need to bring her in and get her under contract before she ends up being a security risk. We can stick her in there and tell her the fate of the wizarding world depends on her work there, and she'll be all for it. We wouldn't even really be lying. If she can prove useful on any of the projects besides that, well, that's just a bonus."

"Alright, but if we do this, someone else is going to be sitting in on these classes as well, not just her. She won't bother telling the rest of us what she learns. She's still searching for a way to make a name for herself."

"That's fair." Draco nodded.

"And if she starts making a nuisance of herself she gets obliviated and sent on her way."

"No arguments here." Tom scoffed.

"If we bring Hermione in, Ginny's just going to be more determined to know what we're up to." Ron pointed out.

"NO. I have to draw the line somewhere." Harry grumbled.

 

"Antidotes test next class. Bugger. Snape just lives to torture us, doesn't he?" Ron grumbled. He glanced at Draco in surprise when he didn't say anything in response.

"Not going to defend your hero?"

"Hero? Please. He does live to torture us…well, you. Gryffindors. I sometimes think it's the only joy he has in his life."

"He needs to get a better life."

"No arguments here."

"Have you been studying? I can quiz you if you like. The antidotes section is going to be a sizeable part of our grade. We can head to the library and…"

Theo and Millicent looked at Harry expectantly. Harry grimaced and rolled his eyes.

"Actually Hermione, there's something else we need to do first."

"This is important! Ron, what are the ingredients of the antidote for draught of living death?"

"True love's kiss?"

"That only worked because he had the antidote on his stupid lips, the pervert. I mean honestly, what sort of prince just goes around snogging unconscious, possibly dead girls? She should have slapped him when she woke up."

"Hermione? Let sleeping beauty lie. We have stuff to do and you need to come with us."

"What sort of stuff?"

"Important stuff. Ron will explain it to you. Later." he added when Hermione turned and looked at Ron expectantly.

"I need to get to the library and…let go of me!" she protested when Harry and Neville simply each grabbed one of her arms and drug her along with them.

"Where are we going? There's nothing down here!"

"We're going in here."

"Why here? Where are you taking me?"

The boys hauled her into a room down an out of the way corridor and towards a green cabinet that was in the back corner, hidden from the door by a pile of old desks and chairs.

"Get in the cabinet Hermione."

"I will not! If this is some sort of prank, it's not funny and I’m not amused and…" Hermione trailed off as Neville, Theo, Millicent and Draco went into the cabinet one after another, closing the door behind them each time.

"But…where did they go? What's going on?"

"I told you LATER. Now get in the cabinet."

"I want to know what's…HEY!" she shouted indignantly when Ron simply lifted her off her feet and put her inside. Her last sight was of Harry grinning and waving as he shut the door.

Hermione pushed her way back out of the cabinet, ready to give the boys a piece of her mind, only to stop and gape at the new place she found herself in. It was obviously Hogwarts, but a part of Hogwarts she'd never seen before. For one thing, it was far more colorful, and there was a space-themed mural on the wall. The green cabinet she'd just stepped out of was in a line with three others: yellow, blue and red.  
She heard a noise behind her and saw first Ron, then Harry exiting the green cabinet.

"Where are we? What's going on? What are those cabinets? Why did you kidnap me? When are you…Harry! I'm talking to you!"

"All yours, Ron." Harry said over his shoulder as he hustled out the door.

Hermione turned to Ron, eyes blazing with frustration.

"Talk. NOW." she said very firmly.

Ron sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Alright, it's like this. Back in second year, Harry and Neville set up a secret clubhouse…"

"I KNEW IT."

"…which later became headquarters for the wizarding world's first space program and the R & D department for Explorer's Club Incorporated…"

Hermione's mouth shut with a click, her words swallowed by how incredulous she was.

"Wait…what?"

 

"I can't believe they're still in there. They missed dinner." Theo noted.  
The kids of the Garden were gathered and working on the ship and bifrost scans, keeping one eye on the door to the original Garden and waiting for Ron and Hermione to emerge. They had been doing so since classes let out for the day, gone to dinner, and now they were back and still waiting.

"I asked Olaf to send their dinner down after we brought her here. I knew she wasn't going to be done asking questions in time, and I wasn't letting her leave without taking the pinkie swear. We're trying to eliminate a security threat, not make a bigger one." Harry scoffed.

"They'd best hurry up or we're not going to have time to swear her in before curfew." Millicent noted.

"Honestly! How many questions can she have?" Draco wanted to know.

"It's Hermione. 'nuff said."

"And Ron wanted her here. I don't get it."

"I think he wanted her in sooner to limit the length of the explanatory interrogation he was going to have to go through. If she'd been brought in right after she was unpetrified it would have been 'we're gonna try doing this thing, come on'. Now, it's been two years--one of her petrified, one of us hiding from her, and we've gotten a lot of stuff done and made, so hence the many hours he's been stuck in there."

"Poor guy." Millicent shook her head.

"I think they're coming out." Michael Corner called.

 

Hermione strode out first, wild-eyed and still full of questions by the look of things. Ron shuffled out behind her, looking exhausted and slightly grey. A few of the girls eyed Hermione in horrified fascination at her sheer ball-busting prowess.

Hermione spotted something over all their heads and came to an abrupt stop, scowled and turned on Ron in a fury. The rest of them turned to see what had gotten her so irate and spotted the wall-covering mural Luna had put up that showed Loki against a starry background, arms spread. His long coat was spread wide and from beneath it to either side the kids of the Garden were emerging. Dotted among the stars behind him were numerous squid, swimming through the stars.

"What?!" Ron demanded, glancing at the mural. He clued in when Dean and Seamus both started laughing.

"Oh for… We're not a bloody cult of Loki worshippers. I was telling the truth!"

The rest of the group started laughing as well.

"Okay…the twins set up the altar and have been dedicating all their new pranks to him, but the rest of us are doing space stuff! Where's the bloody oath? I need a lie down."

"Here you go Ron. You can go first. You look like you really do need a nap."

"Thanks. Alright, come on. Let's get the oaths out of the way. Gimme your pinkie."

"Pinkie swear? Of all the childish…"

"It's that or you get obliviated." Ron growled. "Your choice."

Hermione quickly linked her pinkie with his. She didn't trust any of the kids there with her brain.

"I, Hermione Granger…"

"Heh. You got it right. Some folks said "I, insert your name here!"

Draco flushed and glared at Ron hotly. "Are you ever going to let that go? I was tired! And I corrected myself…"

The group started snickering again.

"…promise not to tell anyone about the secret lair, and to always call it the Garden while outside of it. I will not mention anything that goes on within the Garden in front of teachers…excepting Professor Lupin our supervisor, house elves except Olaf, Brunhilde, Kreacher or Winky, any portraits, nor any unaffiliated people, which includes sentient magical beings as well as humans. I will not eat more than my fair share of snacks, I will not engage in house rivalries, nor will I engage in dramatics that will disrupt the work flow. I will go to another room for that until I get it out of my system. I will not take off my clothes in the communications room nor anywhere else in the Garden but for the locker rooms as that's what they're there for…what on earth?"

Cedric Diggory flushed as the kids started snickering again, then shrugged sheepishly. "I can't help it. I get all my best ideas while I’m naked."

"…so mote it be." Hermione concluded. "Satisfied?"

"Yep" Ron nodded. "I’m getting a snack and going to bed."

Hermione was about to venture into the rest of the Garden, eager to see some of what Ron told her about, but was stopped by Harry stepping in front of her, pinkie extended.

"Not so fast. Try to read through it a little quicker. There's a lot of us."

"Yeah, and we've only an hour until curfew." Seamus added.

Hermione looked at the sizeable group who were all lining up behind Harry in horror.

"I have to do it again? With all of you?"

"There's a reason we weren't planning to recruit anyone else." Harry apologized.

"For goodness sake. I, Hermione Granger, promise not to tell…"

 

Hermione's voice was getting hoarse by the time the last of the students in line had gone. She was about to relax, but then Professor Lupin showed up, gave her a glass of water, smiled at her apologetically and made her do it again. Then he gave her a contract to sign and a PDA and walked her through attuning it to herself. She wanted desperately to play with it and find out all the group's secrets, but then a cabinet appeared and Sirius Black, Barty Crouch Jr., Penny Clearwater, a pair of twins she vaguely remembered graduated last year, Hufflepuffs if she wasn't mistaken, all stepped out and lined up to do their own pinkie swears.

_"The Hendricks brothers. Penny mentioned they were going to be working for the company making prank items to sell overseas…"_

They did their oaths with her and left as quickly as they appeared, as did the cabinet. She was burbling with a thousand new questions, but the warning bell for curfew rang and Remus gently but firmly led her back to the row of cabinets where she'd first come in.

Tom and Harry were waiting there; everyone else had already left it seemed.

"I'll wait for you on the other side. Hold the questions till we're under wards. We're not actually sure what breaking the oaths will do and we're not eager to find out." Harry told her before vanishing into the red cabinet. Remus left through the blue one as it was closest to his office and quarters.

"Step inside, stay there till you hear a ding." Tom told her. "Don't leave before then or it won't be properly attuned to your magical signature."

Still feeling slightly wrong-footed and dizzy with questions, she did as he asked. He didn't come through after her.

"He went through the green cabinet we first came in by. It's right near Slytherin house, if you'll recall." Harry explained, correctly guessing the turn her thoughts had taken.  
"This one is near Gryffindor, the blue as you've probably guessed is near Ravenclaw and yellow near Hufflepuff. Now that you're attuned you can use all of them. Be aware of who's around you and try not to lead anyone to them. Now come on. We've only got a few minutes till last bell."

The common room was noisy and crowded as it always was come curfew, but the nook by the window was free. Harry led Hermione there and put up some wards so no one would overhear their conversation. Hermione sank down across from him still dazed and tried for several moments to gather her thoughts enough to speak. Finally she asked the question that had plagued her the most through all the stunning revelations.

"Why didn't you bring me in sooner? I'm top of the class!"

"This all started, the very beginnings of it at least, back in second year while you were petrified, and we were feuding before that, remember?" Harry reminded her impatiently. "Then we found out your head was messed with and we figured you'd need space to catch up. After that you were kind of insane for a while…and we were still feuding."

Hermione frowned in thought as Harry continued.

"And well…"

"What?"

Harry sighed. "You're not going to like it."

"Go on."

"As you wish. The whole being top of the class thing was actually a mark against you."

"That doesn't make any sense at all! It is the complete opposite of sense!"

"We know you can recite back paragraphs of text from the textbook on command. We know you can knock out lengthy essays. We know you can do most spells we've been introduced to with only a bit of practice…"

"Exactly! I should have been first on the list!"

"But we don't know if you could make a new spell or adapt an old one as needed to do something that hasn't been done before. Your first instinct when you run into the problem is to go to the library and find a spell for that problem. That's not what we're doing. There were no magical computers. Lee, Bernard and Kendall built those from the ground up and made all the programs for them. They were recently tweaked and streamlined by a couple of adults Sirius hired so they can try to mass market them, but it was all their work, all original. There weren't a list of computer-making spells in the library to look up. Ron, Neville and I made a bunch of mining equipment for the project. There was no ready-made spells for that and no blueprints. We had to figure all that stuff our ourselves. Tom's extreme environment suits and air-filtration systems the same thing. Even the vertical farms were all original work. Nev read something somewhere saying it was probably possible and should be looked into, but there weren't any instructions on how to do it. They figured that all out and built the prototype and put all the environment charms on themselves and made all the controls and everything to run it. There was no ready-made answer in a book somewhere. There's no book on how to program action-figures to be space miners."

Harry sighed at the look on Hermione's face.

"Most of the folks in the Garden are doing just fine, but they're not getting perfect grades. Heck, most of Ravenclaw, the "smart" house doesn't get perfect grades, because they're interested in what they're interested in, and poking around learning about whatever that is, and doing their own thing and turning in half-assed essays so they can get back to doing that. None of them are failing, because they are smart and the book work and tests come easily to them, but they're not getting solid O's across the board and fretting constantly about homework and studying. The twins? Left to their own devices they would have gotten three OWLs each and left at the end of last year. They had plans and school was getting in the way of them. Tom pointed out that folks like you and Percy, in the Ministry, think grades equal a person's worth, and if anything ever went wrong with one of their pranks they might be barred from doing business because of the lack. They took his advice seriously and so they sat for every OWL they qualified for and tried to do well. O's and E's across the board. Nine OWLs each. They're going to get a few NEWTs too just to silence any sticklers, and since Sirius is helping them get their shop they have the leisure to do that. You look surprised. Anyone in the Garden will tell you they're geniuses, even if most of their grades through Hogwarts don't reflect that."

When Hermione finally stumbled upstairs at lights' out, her mind was still racing, and she felt peculiarly hollow after the events of the day. It was all she could do just to crawl into bed.

_"Geez. What's with her now? She spends all that time trying desperately to get in, and when she finally does, she's still not happy."_ she heard Lavender whisper to Parvati across the room.

She couldn't really muster up the will to explain herself. How could she explain how soul-crushing it was to do everything right, just the way she'd always been told to do--she worked hard, kept her nose clean, got the best grades and when she wasn't petrified was top of her class. She did it all, went over and above, and was still found wanting.

_"It's not a big deal, Hermione. Your grades and mad essay-writing skills will stand you in good stead when you march off to be a cog in the Ministry, which is what you want anyway, right? The rest of us want something different is all. I don't think I could ever work in a cubicle and be happy. It'd be too much like being held prisoner at the Dursleys. You seem to like that sort of thing though so…"_

Harry's words from earlier. How humiliating was it to have your entire life summed up in such stark, depressing terms? She was destined to be a cubicle-living cog in a machine, apparently. Like Percy, who also hadn't been brought in, and for much the same reasons she wasn't.

_"You and Percy are kinda similar in that way, you're both so hungry for recognition. You want to shine brighter than everyone else. Ron didn't want Percy involved because he was convinced he'd steal everything we did and run with it--he's already out of school. He was certain he'd have the nerve to offer us minimum-wage jobs working for him while he reaped the benefits of our hard work and schmoozed around reveling in the accolades and big money. You're the same age as us, so we weren't worried you do that… We figured you'd be trying so hard to master everything everyone did and getting in the middle of everyone's project so you could prove you were smarter and could do it better that you wouldn't actually be contributing anything yourself, and would be more or less bringing everyone else's projects to a standstill. There's no room in the Garden for that kind of grandstanding. We're all united in a single goal, though we're all doing a small part to make it happen. At first, I'll admit, we just thought it would be cool, you know? Go to space, make our own world eventually. We were thinking long-term, like, decades. Now though, after finding out about SHIELD, that's all changed. We realize now there's only two ways this can end. One, we succeed beyond all expectation and manage to get away before we're discovered…or two, our entire civilization is wiped out but for a tragic few who live out the remainder of their lives in a tiny cell, being harvested bit by bit for study and experimentation."_  
_"Oh, Harry, honestly! They wouldn't do that. You've been hanging around that Tom too much. Don't think I haven't heard his opinion on muggles!"_  
**_"They would."_ ** The grim look and absolute belief on Harry's face stilled her objections. _"You haven't seen what we have. I can't bear the thought of living out my life in a cubicle. I'm damn well not living it in a cage, or on a slab while I'm harvested for parts. We don't have time for egos or grandstanding here. The very fate of ourselves, our world and our people depends on us succeeding."_

After the prefect came around for bed-check, she quietly closed her curtains, lit her wand and fired up her brand-new PDA that she hadn't even gotten a chance to properly look at yet. She was rather impressed when it led her through several set-up screens to start with--just like a real computer almost. It took her a bit of time to get the hang of navigating through the screens, but she persevered…and only grew more impressed. This little thing in her hand as about as much functionality as her laptop at home did, if not more.

She had several e-mails from some of the kids in the Garden--Anthony, Hannah Abbot and Neville to be exact-- welcoming her to the group and apologizing for her abrupt introduction.

She found a message board for Project Tri-Wizard, which was apparently plans to sell merchandise at the tournament. There were several updates from Penny Clearwater on a calendar plan, book and poster run some publishing house had agreed to do, as well as updates from the twins about several new products they'd be debuting there, from Theodore Nott and Dean about souvenir items, and from Pansy Parkinson about pom-poms, hats and pennants. There was a last update from Penny dated earlier that same day talking about some large coffee urns and a popcorn maker that would be delivered the following day via elf from the world cup stadium for a concession stand.

She found another message board for "Train Project" which detailed updates on a guidance system, then later had schedules for 'testers', along with a request for someone to take over their shift on Saturday, as the person in question had detention for calling McGonagall a 'mangy old cat'. Hermione frowned in indignation at the message and tried to figure out who sent it. It took a few minutes as she was still learning to navigate, but she found her answer.

_"Pansy Parkinson. Why am I not surprised? And what is with all this stuff? I thought they were running a space program!"_

It took her awhile to get away from the message boards and eventually find where the project reports for the space program were kept. When she did she spotted a message in the upper portion of the screen.

**Attention all Personnel: Closed projects are now edged in red. Daily and weekly progress reports for closed projects have been moved to long-term storage. They can be accessed on the terminal outside the communications group workroom. Schematics for the completed project can still be accessed through the workgroup's project page.**

Curious now she began poking through the different screens. She found the icon for the mining group, edged in red, indicating it was closed. She opened it to see what was there, and spent the next hour looking through it.

_"Harry and Ron and Neville made this?!"_

When Harry told her they'd made mining equipment, she had honestly been picturing a small car like a tractor with a drill on the front. She hadn't in her wildest dreams ever pictured what they'd actually made. It wasn't a drill, it was a complete excavating and processing station that could dig, gather, process and package a whole array of minerals and gases for transport back to earth. They'd even worked in a way to make use of the bits of rock and dust they didn't need, turning them into storage and transport containers on site. Beyond that were lists of explosives with shaped charges that would make holes of different sizes and shapes, as well as little hammers, picks and helmets with lights on them for the miners to wear. There was even a 'rescue' suit that was supposed to fly the action figures back towards the ship in the event of an explosion.

More shaken than she cared to admit, she started poking through the rest of the sites, reading up on the closed projects. The schematics for the PDA in her hand, as well as the programs running on it were all marked closed. She spent a while poking through them, but if anything they were more complicated than the monstrous mining station she'd just been looking at. Under 'environments' were several more projects--some open, some closed. There were suits that would protect from extreme cold and heat, though helmets or headpieces to go with them still seemed to be a work in progress, as they seemed to be having trouble integrating the air-filtration in to the temperature protection. There was an air-filtration system that looked like a tree, and an outgrowth of that project meant for doors and windows that removed toxins and cleaned the air. There was also a dozen 'in a globe' closed projects-- Knowhere, SHIELD base--twelve of those, 'helicopter place', 'Azkaban', "MIT", "Oxford"--the last two with lists of recorded classes under them, also "space camp" and "Cape Canaveral" .

_"Biology, chemistry, engineering, computer science, botany, zoology, physics, mathematics, environmental sciences, metallurgy, materials science, blacksmithing?! Drawing, drafting, graphic design, painting, sculpture? They weren't kidding around when they said they'd been taking university classes!"_

There were notes beside each list of classes with the textbooks that went with them and where to find them and the classes themselves. They were scattered all over--some in each of the workrooms, some at headquarters, wherever that was, books in the workrooms and the "lounge library".

Another completed project was the 'deep space simulation room'--also at headquarters, 'vertical farms-phase I', 'terraforming bomb alpha'. There was also a 'beta', 'gamma', 'delta', and an 'epsilon'.

The art department had a whole slew of closed projects--model trains and stations, concept drawings for the farms and mining equipment, dream offices, workspaces and design concepts for corporate headquarters--external and internal.

There were a dozen listed 'food chains' as well as projects with names like 'important bugs', 'beneficial microbes', 'small animals-vertebrate', 'small aquatic lifeforms', and one that said 'headache inducing problem animals'. There were several ongoing reports of a systematic survey of the Hogwarts grounds with a list of the flora and fauna found there. There was even a copy of the research done on Biosphere 2--every page appended with notes, suggestions and commentary.

_**"Young miss needs to be getting some sleep now, yes she does."** _

Hermione jumped when she was suddenly addressed by a disapproving house elf near her elbow, who was holding a gently steaming cup out towards her.

"Um, hello?"

"Hello young miss. Master Harry is asking Brunhilde to give you a sleepy cup if you is still being awake at 2 am." the elf explained.

"Harry did? A sleepy cup?"

"Is recipe the young master is putting together to be helping Master Loki and Master Tom when they's brains won't stop spinning. Helps you find the quiet place and get some sleep. You is still growing. You needs be getting plenty of sleep, food and sunshine. You drink up now. Yous magic box is still being there in the morning."

Hermione reluctantly turned off the PDA. If it was really 2 am she did need to get some sleep. As it was she was going to be miserable in the morning. The sleepy cup proved to be warm milk with a hint of vanilla and spices, as well as the faintest hint of what she was sure was a calming draught.

Brunhilde watched her until she'd drained the whole thing, then set about tucking her in to bed while tutting about all the _silly humans and their spinny brains who didn't know what was good for them._

She fell asleep moments later.

 

"This year is really proving a bad one for our project. The first term is already half over."

"Yeah, Hogsmeade weekend already, and then the first task is on Wednesday."

"It kind of sucks, there's only three scheduled for this year, probably because of the tournament. No quidditch. Getting gypped on Hogsmeade, Tournament sucking up all our free… what the hell does Dean think he's doing?" Ron suddenly growled, his hand going for his wand.

Harry and Neville sighed and each grabbed one of his arms to march him off towards one of the carriages.

"He's walking. And Ginny's hanging off his arm."

"No, he's dead is what he is. Corrupting my innocent baby sister…"

"Try the other way around. The way he tells it she came after him."

"Actually, that's the way she tells it too." Hermione, who was nearby agreed. "I hadn't even been aware she liked him before they suddenly turned up dating."

"You all knew about this?"

"I think everyone knows. They haven't exactly been discrete." Hermione scoffed.

"Hardly. Every time I turn around I see her pouncing on him." Harry agreed, sounding quite aggrieved.

"I'll murder him."

"Ron. Dean didn't do anything wrong. I already had a talk with him about things."

"She's only a third year!"

"So? You were a third year last year when you went on a date with Lavender, and come on. It's not like she can't take care of herself. Relax. Dean's a good guy." Hermione scolded.

"He's molesting my sister!"

"We already told you, if anyone's being molested it's him."

"GAAAHHH!"

"Oh, honestly! Ginny's a big girl and you're being ridiculous." Hannah growled.

"Hello, everyone. Have you any room left?"

"Sure, hop on in."

Luna climbed aboard and shut the door. The carriage began moving down the mountain.

"What's with you?" she asked when she saw Ron's stormy face.

"He saw Dean and Ginny together." Hannah huffed.

Her eyes blinked slowly in astonishment. "You didn't know about them? Everybody knew about them! Haven't you heard Michael Corner going on about how Dean needed to see a mind healer?"

"Is that what that was about? Wait a minute…just what is he trying to say there?"

"That Ginny's insane and scary, and all the rest of you are just as bad when it comes to her." Harry scoffed.

"Hey!"

"You know what they say…if the shoe fits…"

"Shoes? What shoes?"

"It's a muggle expression." Hermione sighed. "Do we have to pick up candy for the younger kids this time?" she asked Harry.

"Nah. I dumped that on Colin. He was going to be getting stuff for Dennis anyway. I told Hedwig to meet him outside the candy shop to carry it back though."

"That was nice of you."

"Say, how has your project been going anyway?" Hannah asked. "You haven't submitted any reports yet. We were all kind of surprised by that, actually."

"I'm still finding my footing, and I've only actually watched one class so far. I'm flattered you all think I could just jump into classes with a bunch of Ph.D's and just run with things, but it's not that simple. I really need to get a dictionary of scientific terminology or something. That would probably help a great deal. Maybe my dad will get one if I ask."

"Submit a request to Penny." Harry disagreed. "You're working on a project for the company, which means you get funding for needed materials. Tell her what you need and she'll arrange it."

"It might help if I had a dictaquill or something too. They keep throwing around unfamiliar words and I can't seem to write fast enough to keep up. I got some of it…"

"Damn, we really should have had communications give you the grand tour of the PDA. There's a dictation function on it already…though if it's all weird muggle terminology I can't promise any miracles with the spelling."

"It would still be a help. What else can this thing do that I don't know about?"

"We've got an hour till we get down to the village. We'll give you the grand tour right now."

 

They were nearly to the village when messages started popping up.

_"Gather 'round, girls! Gladrags is having a sale!" - Pansy_

_"Harry, that special edition of Charms Weekly Slughorn mentioned is out. I told the shopkeeper to hold a copy for you at the till. They're going fast."- Tom_

_"Two for one special on butterbeer for the next fifteen minutes at Three Broomsticks! Get 'em while you can!" - Dean_

_"Glamourie has more Evening Seductress!" - Lavender_

"Evening Seductress? What on earth…"

"It's perfume." Hannah laughed. "It's that stuff Lavender's always wearing."

"Alright! Ogden's is giving out free samples of a new whiskey blend at four!" Ron crowed as a new message came through.

"You're out of luck, mate. It's at the Hogshead. Aberforth said he was going to put up an age line after that stunt you and Draco pulled, remember? He said he was tired of chasing all the bone-head third years out of his pub." Harry reminded him.

"What stunt?" Hermione asked curiously.

"The first Hogsmeade, the one you missed. He and Draco gave themselves long beards and funny hats and tried to convince the barkeep they were dwarves."

Hermione sighed and glared at Ron, while Hannah and Luna just laughed.

"Oh, it gets better. He said their dads tried the same thing when they were in school."

"They didn't go together though. They each showed up and tried to call the other out, but they both got thrown out for their trouble." Neville added.

"It should have worked. It was one of his better plans." Ron grumbled.

 

The carriage reached the village and they climbed out, arguing about where to go first.

"There's still a few minutes left on the butterbeer special…"

"It'll be over by the time we get there."

"Bugger."

"Hey, look. Hagrid's on a date, it looks like." Hannah suddenly pointed.

They all turned and saw Hagrid, with a rather saucy grin on his face, wandering along with Madame Maxime, the headmistress of Beauxbatons. She had a rather saucy grin herself. By the look of it they had more than lunch on their minds.

"That absolute….!" Harry growled, furious. Hermione jumped when he suddenly glowed for a moment and was wearing armor and a headpiece with small horns on it. He dug around in his clothes for a bit and with a triumphant 'AHA!', pulled a small black disk from his pocket and held it up. It looked like it was made of iced-over obsidian, and seemed to suck away all the light in its vicinity.

Hermione drew her wand and started scanning the armor and the disc, but Ron nudged her and pointed to the PDA.

"Of course! There's a scanner built in!" She activated it and started scanning again.

**"Hela!"**

The disk seemed to grow three times its size…or perhaps the world shrunk around it, it was rather hard to tell, actually, and it grew opaque, until it looked like you were peering through a window. The Queen of Hel's face appeared within it.

"Brother? You bellowed?" she asked wryly.

"I just saw Hagrid on a date with Madame Maxime. Do I need to avenge your honor?" Harry demanded.

Hela, who appeared to be sitting on her throne, put her chin in her hand and just stared at him bemusedly for several long moments.

"That will not be necessary. 'twas a mutual parting. Though I spent many enjoyable moments in his company, we discovered that we did not have much in common. He begins his new courtship with my blessing."

"You're sure?"

"I am quite certain. I do thank you for offering." she added after a moment, though she still seemed rather bemused by the whole business.

She hesitated a moment and seemed to glance at something offscreen before turning back to Harry.

"I have begun a new courtship of my own." she offered reluctantly.

The view shifted for a moment, revealing a towering, muscular, scary-looking fellow with horns, before turning back.

"That's Gurg. He is an aspect of death among his people much as I am." she explained.

Gurg's voice sounded from offscreen, sounding questioning. She answered back in the same language and then Gurg was suddenly in the view with her, passionately kissing his way up her arm.

"Oh dear. Apparently introducing a date to one's family is a very big step among his people." she sighed.

She sat patiently until his ardor cooled a bit and reclaimed her arm.

"Uh…good luck?" Harry offered.

"My thanks." Hela replied dryly before the view went dark.

Harry tucked away the disc and vanished his armor.

"So…where are we going again?"


	5. The first task

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Tri-Wizard Tournament begins and there's a slight set-back on the train project.

The mood was anticipatory at breakfast that morning. All the Garden group were wearing pith hats with a green band and a button that flashed between TOM, Hogwarts and WIN (Draco Malfoy's contribution).

Those who were going to be running booths ate a hurried breakfast and ran off onto the grounds to get set up before everyone started arriving.

Viktor and Fleur, at their respective tables, were looking both grim and nervous. Tom was acting like it was any old day, eating a light breakfast and reading the paper.

Ludo Bagman, who it seemed was going to be acting as announcer, much as he had with the World Cup, came to fetch the champions and led them off just before breakfast was due to finish.

They had to wait while Tom dropped Nagini off with Harry. Tom was only allowed to bring himself and his wand. Nagini was rather irate as she wanted to know what was going on, and didn't like that Tom was leaving without her.

Once they were gone, everyone else rose and began making their way out onto the grounds to see the show. They spotted Sirius and Loki waiting near the stands and veered over to meet them.

"Hey kids. Nice hats."

"Just showing some solidarity."

"Let's find seats, shall we?"

Barty, Penny, Lucius, Narcissa, Andromeda and Ted were all there. Tonks was there as well. She'd been at the stands and came over with a pom-pom in one hand and a hot chocolate in the other. Sadly for her, she was a bit of a klutz at the best of times, and she tumbled into Barty's lap as she was trying to climb into her seat.

"Ack! Oh crap, my choc… Oh. Good idea, putting lids on." she breathed a sigh of relief.

That's when she seemed to realize she was sprawled across the lap of an ex-con. Barty just grinned at her and waggled his eyebrows. Tonks' face (and hair) turned red.

"S-sorry."

"Anytime, luv."

The Garden group arranged themselves around them. There were enough of them these days that they took up a whole section of the stands just by themselves. Ginny sat with them. Dean had given her a hat like theirs, but she changed the band to red.

She made a show of snuggling up to Dean and cooing at him, while peeking out of the corner of her eye to see if Harry was reacting at all. While she was doing that, Millicent tapped her hat band with her wand and made it green with snakes on it.

 _"Where is our Tom? Is he off visiting the great ones?"_ Nagini hissed in Harry's ear.

_"The great ones?"_

_"The great serpents who have fire mouths. I can taste them."_ she explained, her tongue flicking out to test the air again.

"Dragons?"

"What?"

"Nagini said she smells dragons. I think that's what the first task is."

Ron paled, remembering his own run in with a (baby) dragon. His hand had swollen to the size of a balloon and turned green. He'd been hospitalized for a couple of days because of it. Hermione bit her lip and twisted her hands together nervously, while Harry's stomach fluttered. Nagini seemed to sense his sudden unease as she butted her head against his chin affectionately.

_"I will not let the great ones eat you. I will explain to them that you are now mine, as is our Tom."_

Harry chuckled and gently petted at her scales.

_"Thank you, Nagini. I feel much better now."_

 

**"Welcome, witches and wizards, to the first task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament!"**

Ludo Bagman hammed it up as the crowd cheered, and waved their flags and pom-poms--the stands had done a brisk business by the look of it.

**"Today, our three champions will be testing their bravery and their ingenuity by facing a nesting mother dragon and retrieving a golden egg from her nest!"**

"Oh, god, you were right. It is dragons!" Hermione moaned.

"Relax. I have faith in him." Harry replied bracingly.

**"And now, first up, the champion from Durmstrang! Viktoooor Kruuuuummm!"**

Viktor stalked out onto the field to face the first dragon, who was revealed when the pen enclosing it went transparent. It was a vicious looking Norwegian Ridgeback, who roared and shot a long gout of flame the moment it spotted Viktor.

Viktor let out a breath and straightened his shoulders before dashing towards the only cover available, a rock sticking partway out of the ground. He had to roll away almost immediately, as the Ridgeback was both quicker and more maneuverable than he'd expected-- it could also shoot its flames much further and quicker than he'd expected.

He had to dive out of the way again, and then make a dash in the other direction almost immediately as it chased him across the field with more fire, straining at its chains to try to reach him.

He shot a spell at the thing, but it simply moved its head and upper body out of the way and shot another gout of flame.

Viktor was sweating by this point and covered in dust from his dash across the pen. He shot another spell which also missed, but was this time swiftly followed by another attempt. He had to dive out of the way of another blast, which caught him this time.

He grit his teeth and tried to get into a better position and found himself having to dodge and scurry as the dragon was thrashing around and roaring in pain. His last spell had hit, though only on one eye. He tried to get into position to launch another spell at its vulnerable eyes and had to dodge another flame for his trouble.

He was tiring and it just missed him, though not completely to judge by his wince as it passed. The audience was on the edge of its seat, gasping and flailing after every near miss.

Finally he got its other eye and dove under as it lifted its upper body off the ground to roar in pain. Burned, soot-covered, and obviously shaken and tired, he made a dive for the nest to snatch the golden egg, dove and rolled to escape the flames the enraged dragon was now spraying in all directions, hopped to his feet and ran for it.

"Oh! Oh, thank goodness!" Hermione gasped.

She and Ron both slumped in relief. Harry however was looking down at the pen in horror.

"She smashed some of her own eggs. You were right. This contest is barbaric."

The dragon was still shaking its head and roaring in pain and rage as the dragon-tamers moved in to put her down. One ran in and rescued the two intact eggs before they too could be smashed. The pen went opaque again while they were still trying to quiet her.

**"A bit of excitement there, hey folks? The Durmstrang Champion has successfully completed his task! Judges! What say you?"**

"A daring and successful battle!" Headmaster Karkaroff announced, holding up a 10.

"A bold challenge, but the nest was nearly destroyed." Madame Maxime disagreed, holding up a 6.

"Bravely done, but yes, the destroyed eggs are unfortunate." Dumbledore opined, holding up a 7. Pius Thicknesse considered a moment before also holding up a 7.

**"There you have it, ladies and gentlemen! Viktor Krum gets 30 out of a possible 40 points for his successful conclusion! And now! For our second champion! Representing Beauxbatons Academy, the lovely Miss Fleur Delacour!"**

 

Hermione, who had been terrified, but still ogling Viktor Krum during his battle, scowled.

Ron, who had been both terrified for his idol, and pissed off at how Hermione was looking at him, lost his scowl when the blonde French beauty emerged and smiled in turn.

Fleur faltered for a moment, before taking a steadying breath at the sight of the Hungarian Horntail when it was revealed. The thing growled and let out a gust of flame to warn her off as she approached, but she continued to move forward slowly and steadily, pulling the pins from her hair as she did. She shook her long, blonde hair free of its confinement and began to dance.

All the boys in the Garden group had occlumency now, courtesy of a lesson by Ron, but elsewhere in the stands a commotion broke out as men tried to climb down from the stands to get to her, while their wives and daughters and girlfriends and sisters tried to wrestle them back in their seats. The dragon seemed to be lulled into a trance, and remained docile as she slowly moved closer to the nest.

Unfortunately, she had to stop dancing to get the egg. The dragon threw off the calm of her spell swiftly and roared before shooting a long gout of flame at the fleeing girl, whose skirt and jacket began smoldering as she ran. Madame Pomfrey was there waiting to hose her down and lead her away to the medical tent to await the judges' decision.

**"Judges? What say you?"**

"Swift, efficient, no lost eggs or serious injury." Madame Maxime said smugly, holding up a 10.

Dumbledore considered a moment and held up an 8. "Agreed." Pius Thicknesse, who seemed to just be voting the same as Dumbledore, also held up an 8.

Igor Karkaroff glared at the rest of them, then at Fleur, then at the crowd and grudgingly held up a 4, sneering when the French students and fans hissed in outrage.

**"Well, ladies and gentlemen! It appears we have a tie! Miss Fleur Delacour of Beauxbatons gets 30 points out of a possible 40! And now…last, but not least! Representing Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! TOOOOMMM RIIIIIDDDDLLLLLEEEEE"**

The crowd, which was mostly British, went wild when Tom appeared. He seemed quite relaxed as he ambled towards the pen where a long and vicious-looking Chinese Fireball had just been revealed. He kept walking forward even when the dragon went on alert and began growling at him, bits of flame and smoke curling around her lips in warning.

Tom's step faltered, and for a horrid moment everyone wondered if he'd lost his nerve, but then they saw he'd cocked his head like he often did while surprised by something.

Tom said something--he was too far away for them to hear what he said, but whatever it was made the dragon rear back in surprise, before extending her neck forward towards Tom in interest. The dragon growled again and Tom said something else, gesturing towards the nest. The dragon growled again sounding angry, but he held up his hands and gestured again, and then gestured to where he was standing.

The dragon kept one eye on him as she maneuvered around and then began nosing and sniffing at her eggs and then licked each of them. She reared back in surprise and then let out an earth-shaking growl of anger, setting a large ball of flame into the sky as she did so. She then nosed the golden egg out of her nest and batted it to Tom's feet with her tail, while curling around her nest protectively.

Tom spoke again and gave the dragon a shallow bow when she growled again, before sauntering off, egg in hand.

 

The crowd was shocked silent by the display, but then surged to their feet cheering. While Ludo Bagman exclaimed over Tom's performance.

**"Judges? What say you?"**

Pius Thickness, looking dazed, held up a 10. Madame Maxime pursed her lips and held up an 8. Igor Karkaroff held up another 4 and glared at the crowd who booed and howled. Dumbledore held up a 9 after some deliberation.

**"And we have our final scores! In the lead, Tom Riddle of Hogwarts with 31 points! Tied for second place, Viktor Krum of Durmstrang and Fleur Delacour of Beauxbatons, each with 30 points!"**

"Geez. The other headmasters gave their champs a 10. What's with Dumbledore?" Ron grumbled.

"Probably figures he used parseltongue, which is dark magic, of which he doesn't approve…but he couldn't really justify giving him lower. He got done the fastest, the dragon's eggs weren't hurt, neither was he. Heck, the dragon gave him the egg!" Harry explained.

"Exactly! He should have gotten a ten for that!"

"That jerk Karkaroff with his fours. He's not even pretending to be unbiased!" Ginny sneered.

"What a creep!" Susan Bones agreed. A rumble of sympathetic disapproval went through all the Hufflepuffs. They hated a bad sportsman.

"Oh well. Hogwarts is still in the lead." Pansy assured them.

"Only by one point." Draco griped.

"Which means a lot of people are going to come back. It's such a close contest, everyone's going to be itching to see who pulls ahead." Terrence said with glee, rubbing his hands together. "Say, how did the stand do?"

"Cleaned out." George said with satisfaction.

"Everything? Even the posters?"

"Oh, those went like hotcakes. Apparently telling folks there isn't much of something makes them desperate to have it. We'll have to come out with another limited edition poster for the next task. Which reminds me. I'd best go give the champions their commission." Fred remembered.

"You had to pay them a commission?" Ginny asked.

"Yes, Viktor is already famous, so he has a standard contract that we had to sign. We just gave the other two the same deal." Dean explained.

"How'd we make out after all that?" Seamus wanted to know.

"Not bad. About two hundred galleons all told. That's for everything, after expenses." George said, before following Fred to go find the champions.

"That's a decent haul." Blaise said musingly.

"You know something I just realized?"

"What's that, Ron?"

"The Norwegian Ridgeback that Krum faced… I think… I think it might be Norbert!"

Harry and Hermione turned to look and saw Charlie Weasley down there with the other dragon tamers.

"He did say they didn't have a Ridgeback…" Hermione remembered.

"Wow. Talk about a small world. Do you think she remembers us?" Harry laughed.

"Should we ask her? I mean…if Tom could talk to the Fireball, you should be able to, right?"

"I think it's a little late, now. They're already hauling her back to her cage to take her back to Romania."

"Damn. Oh, well. Lost opportunities and all."

"Um…guys? How do you know the dragon?" Seamus demanded.

"Hagrid hatched her from an egg our first year. We, Harry and I that is, Ron was in the hospital wing after she bit him, helped smuggle her out of the country." Hermione explained.

"AH HA! I knew it! There really was a dragon!" Draco crowed triumphantly.

"So…you're saying we got that midnight detention because you smuggled a dragon and saved the school, not because you were playing a mean trick on Malfoy?" Neville asked.

"Pretty much, yeah." Harry nodded.

"Okay then. As long as it was for a good cause."

"Ugh. Back to classes. I swear. If they're going to gyp us out of a Hogsmeade weekend, they could at least give us the day off when there's a task."

"Ron, honestly!"

"Back to the grind we go." Ginny agreed glumly.

 

 

"Finally done. They're really piling it on lately." Draco complained as he began gathering his books together.

The whole group had been camped out in the library since classes ended trying to catch up on homework so they'd have the weekend free.

"I even asked McGonagall why, and do you know what she said? She said it was to get us prepared for next year. It supposed to be worse. This is them 'easing us into it'." Ron griped.

"Geez. We're not going to get anything done next year are we?" Millicent grumbled.

"I guess we'd better make this year and the summer count." Theo sighed.

"You almost done there?" Neville asked Harry.

"No. Well, I got everything else. I'm still working on this stupid book. I really suck at picking them, I guess. I think this one is more annoying than the one I read last year. I was hoping to finish it, but I've still got half the last chapter left."

"Do you have any ideas yet for your essay on it?" Hermione wondered.

"I'll wing it. I know what literature teachers like. I just have to talk about symbolism and themes and make up some bullshit and I'm good to go."

"Harry."

"What? I never liked literature classes because they're so subjective. You essentially get graded on how closely what you think mirrors what the teacher thinks or what some big muckety-muck they studied while getting their degree thinks. For example, I had to read 'Lord of the Flies' when I was in muggle school. I was supposed to go on about how it mirrored the human condition and showed that civilization was just a thin veneer over our more basic, primitive selves and blah, blah, blah. The thing is, I didn't agree with that. I could see Dudley and his goons behaving like that, yeah, but they were assholes. If it had been a group of girls, or a less whiny, privileged group I think things would have turned out very differently. It wasn't the human condition, it was the dark depths of a bunch of spoiled tossers breaking free of even the usually limited restraints put on their behavior and running amok with it. The teacher didn't want to hear that though because some yahoo muckety muck said otherwise. Bah."

"What are you reading anyway?"

"The Stranger. Existentialist bullshit, apparently. Also absurdist, or so the back of the books says. Personally, I think this guy needs antidepressants, and possibly to get his arse kicked. Maybe I should just say that."

"Harry!"

Harry started snickering, and Hermione sighed and rolled her eyes at him, though she was smiling.

"What's it about?" Ron wondered.

"Well…the guy's mum dies, but he doesn't care, then he kills a guy because he's hot and the sun is shining…because the universe doesn't have meaning, and when he realizes this it makes him happy for the first time in his life."

All of them just stared at him in astonishment.

"So…the guy is like Martin Miggs the Mad Muggle…but less entertaining." Ron decided.

"Pretty much, yeah." Harry nodded. "In any case, I've had enough of this guy for one day. I've still a few days left to get this sorted. You going to watch a class?" he then asked Hermione as he began packing up his bag.

"I was planning to. My dictionaries are here."

"I'll join you."

"Oh. Alright. I was going to get changed and all. If you want, I'll meet you in the training room."

"Oh. Can't. We added obstacles to it. Meet me in the big conference room."

"The big…where is that?"

"The brown cabinet in Tom's workroom in the corner. Go through there."

"Okay. What kind of obstacles did you put in the training room and why?"

"Last I checked we had a swamp, some big rocks and some ramps and platforms. Oh, and ropes. Lots of ropes."

"The twins added some random explosions and a spinning stinging hex machine. They're working on mobile targets for the archers."

"Yeah? Excellent."

 

When Hermione arrived in the "big conference room", she found Harry already there and making himself a comfy nest of sorts by turning part of the bleachers into a shallow bowl in which he'd settled a furry, poofy pillow. He'd brought snacks, and his PDA, and a large book which he nudged towards her when she came to make a (more dignified and practical) workstation for herself.

"I got something here that should turn you on."

"Please tell me it's not porn." she said warily. She still hadn't quite forgiven him for the 'wankmaster 5000'.

"It's not porn. Geez. Take a look."

She grabbed the book from the edge of his nest and turned it over so she could see the cover.

"The Big Book of Magical Theory. _Now with Diagrams!_ "

"I figure that should make things simpler. It's kind of a pain hunting them all down through all our schoolbooks like you've been trying to do."

"This will be a tremendous help." she agreed, already eagerly flipping through it while he went and got the academy set up.

As the campus took form around them, Hermione sighed wistfully.

"Whatever we see is probably going to make more sense to you than it does to me. My last science classes were a few years ago, and they weren't very advanced. All of you have a thorough education from MIT. I still don't understand how you all found the time." she admitted, sounding defeated.

"Because it's not a thorough education. I told you, we were kind of picking and choosing and fast-forwarding through stuff that didn't seem applicable to what we're doing. We just have so many because Tom was recording them all. When anyone has a free hour and is getting nowhere with whatever they're working on, they pop out a class and sit through it, or they read another section of the textbook. We didn't sit through every one taking notes and getting tested and writing essays. We sat, we listened, we hoped it sparked some ideas or gave us an AHA moment. Myself, I worked through the math textbooks on my own, the problems that had answers in the back, anyway--I didn't bother to go to most of the classes except when I got stuck. I peeked in on a half-dozen or so of the engineering classes, read the textbooks. Mostly I lurked around the materials engineering labs or watched the blacksmiths and tried to pick up what I could from that. There's no way any of us could have done more than that, which is kind of what I've been trying to tell you."

"Oh. Well…if that's the case, you probably won't understand much more than I do. So why are you checking up on me?"

"Because I didn't see the school of science and technology. I was with the group that was watching the soldiers."

"Soldiers?!"

"You were asking about the obstacle course before. That's why. They train black-ops soldiers here too. We figured we'd best work some of that stuff in to our days where we can so we'll have a better chance of countering them should it come to that."

"You all can't think an obstacle course will be enough to pit you against real black ops soldiers!"

"We know it won't be enough by itself, but it will make us stronger, faster, more limber. The stinging hex machine and the moving targets will help train us to be more aware of our surroundings. Plus, all the physical training actually makes you a stronger witch or wizard. We've all noticed an increase. It's also good stress relief. When you hit a block on your project and get frustrated, it's great to go whack something for an hour until your head clears. I highly recommend it."

"I'll pass, thanks."

"Suit yourself, but I think you're missing out."

 

 

The second week of December saw a stir go through the upper years after the Yule Ball was announced. Suddenly all the upperclassmen seemed to be giggling and pairing off. It became harder and harder for Tom to sneak off to the Garden, as he was suddenly being stalked through the halls by girls determined to have him as their date. Another pack of dedicated stalkers were focused on Viktor Krum. Fleur, of course, caused havoc everywhere she went.

"Tom, you need to just pick someone and end this." Harry told him after the third time he come in looking a bit wild-eyed and disheveled.

"I don't even want to go. I have to though because I'm a champion. Apparently we have to open things."

"Do you know how to dance?"

"Yes. It was considered an essential skill when I was growing up…and even if I hadn't, Professor Snape has been running refreshers in the common room in the evenings."

"So, just pick someone you can spend the evening with and have fun and get it over with."

"You don't understand. Slytherin house is very competitive. If I pick the wrong girl, the rest of them are going to get vengeful."

"So pick a Ravenclaw or a Hufflepuff."

"If I do that, the Slytherin girls are going to feel slighted."

"So pick someone from the Garden."

"I don't want to compromise the congenial working atmosphere. You see…this is why I hate all these forced mating dances. It's nothing but trouble."

"There has to be someone. How about Kendall? She's smart, and you seem to get on with her well."

"She's going with Bernard as neither of them is currently dating or interested in anyone."

"Okay… How about that girl from biospheres, with the dark hair. She's a Slytherin."

"Eugenie? She's in a serious relationship."

"How about Miranda? Hufflepuff. She's nice."

"Already has a date."

"Katie Bell?"

"Going with Lee."

"Angelina Johnson?"

"Going with Fred…the other one is going with George."

"Millicent? She's cool."

"Vince is sweet on her. It would break his heart."

"Aw. Closet romantic, are you? Does it have to be someone from school? Tonks would probably go."

"I don't think that's allowed."

"How about Fleur Delacour? She's been roaming around trying to ensnare Cedric, but he's going with Cho Chang. Everyone else in the Garden seems to already have a date. There'd be a bit less havoc in the hallways."

"I saw her stalking Roger Davies earlier. He falls to pieces around her. If she caught up to him she probably already has a date."

"How about Adrien Pucey?"

"He's a boy."

"Yeah, he is, and I don't think he swings that way, but he's also got a bit of a boy-crush on you if I'm not mistaken. Seems that way, anyhow. Oh! Viktor Krum. He's been hiding from fangirls too…and damn, think of the merchandising! Get a few pictures of you two together looking smoldery…witches everywhere will be clearing out their bank accounts to get a copy!"

"You're trying to pimp me out now?"

"Well, work with me here. Is there anyone available that you could spend a nice evening with who isn't already taken? You know, you would have saved us both a lot of trouble if you'd just held a lottery when the ball was announced."

Tom sighed regretfully.

"A lottery. I'll have to remember that. It really would have made things simpler."

"You'd best get out there and find someone who's not taken soon. You'll look like a dork if you show up and have to dance by yourself to open the ball."

The idea that he might end up looking foolish was enough to get Tom galvanized. He steeled himself to wade back out into the halls filled with roaming packs of girls looking for a date.

"Wish me luck."

"Luck."

 

Tom returned nearly an hour later.

"Well?"

"I managed to intercept Delacour while she was still stalking Davies. I think I can count it as a good deed. I do believe his brain was dribbling out of his ears. He couldn't remember how to talk well enough to ask her."

"So, how'd you ask? Did you say something cool or did you just go standard question?"

"I sidled up next to her and asked if she was really that eager to be drooled on and have her feet being stepped on all night, and then said, 'oh well, I guess I'll have to find someone else."

"What did she say?"

"She must have turned off her allure, because Davies stumbled and almost fell on his face…which she ignored. She turned and asked me what color my dress robes were. I told her 'dark green' and asked her what color her dress was. She smiled sort of mysteriously and said I'd have to wait and be amazed and told me to come to her carriage to escort her at quarter of eight."

"So, all sorted then. Good. All the drama was getting annoying. Have you had any luck deciphering the clue in that gold egg you got?"

"I'm going to have to retrieve something from the lake. In February. Remind me why I signed up for this again?"

"A thousand galleons…and so people would stop bugging you."

"Right. Have to keep my eye on the prize."

"That's the spirit. Though still, the lake in February. That's brutal. It's going to be cold as hell in there. Glad it's not me."

"I'm not too worried. I'll just wear one of my extreme environment suits. The ones for cold have all passed muster."

"Ooh. Maybe Loki will take us to Jotunheim. He was worried we'd be 'too fragile' to withstand the temperatures."

"He should know better than to underestimate us."

"Darn tootin'. Oh, I just got the cover for the photo album back from Dean. I'll send it off tonight once I assemble it."

"Hedwig is sure she can get it there?"

"She seems to think she can. I think she's been spying on Hugin and Munin and found out how they get from Asgard to here. She's just going to go the same way but in reverse." Harry explained, before reaching for his PDA. Tom reached for his as well, as they were both buzzing rather insistently.

"Catastrophic failure detected? On what?"

"It's the trains. I don't understand…things were going so well."

"Who's on the schedule today… Colin!"

"Heya, boss-man. Um, something went wrong."

"Yeah, we just got an alert. What happened?"

"The train didn't show up. It left the station, but it never showed up."

"Where are you?"

"North tower."

"Alright, stay put for the moment. We're checking in with the other stations."

"Gotcha."

Harry glanced at Tom, who had just finished a similar conversation with Megan Jones. They called the remaining watchers and received similar reports.

"If both trains are missing they must have collided in the tunnel…why though? They were supposed to stay current with the other trains and not leave if there was a chance they'd collide."

"Let's find the trains and then we'll figure it out."

"That's going to be fun. The stations were at the four corners of the castle."

"If they crashed, then they're somewhere in the middle. We'll start there."

 

"Vhat is going on?" Viktor Krum asked the three Beauxbatons students gathered at the end of the hall.

"Zhe 'ogwarts students are very strange. Zhey 'ave been poking at ze air for ten minutes."

"Vhy is that boy flying around on ze broom?"

"He is poking ze air up there where ze others cannot reach."

A few kids came out of classrooms to either side of the hall where they small crowd of kids were scanning and poking the air, each shaking their heads. Suddenly the boy on the broom said 'AHA' and jabbed sharply with his wand.

The watching students twitched as a loud thud sounded as though something very heavy had fallen. The searchers gathered around an empty spot on the floor where there was now a dent. One of the searchers cast a levitation spell and they all stood peering in horror at thin air for a long moment before turning and hustling away. The boy on the broom landed, fixed the dent in the floor and followed after them.

"Vhat was that all about?"

"Like we said, ze 'ogwarts students are very strange."

 

 

All the kids of the Garden, plus Remus, as well as Barty and Sirius via mirror, gathered around to look at the very small, very dense ball of metal that their search had turned up.

"That can't be the trains. Look at it."

"They've been compressed and made super dense. That's definitely the trains."

"How did this happen? Things were going so well!"

"We might actually be able to answer that. We've been going through the logs. We had the trains just coming and going constantly and the system ticking through the calendar to better simulate a real working schedule. Daylight savings time. Not all of the stations were using it. When it hit 'fall back' and the time turned back an hour the trains all thought they had a clear path and 'BOOM'."

"Yikes. I guess it's a good thing we've been running all these tests." Sirius said, sounding shaken. "I mean…imagine if there'd been people…"

"I'd rather not, thanks." Remus spoke up.

"What's going through your twisty mind?" Tom suddenly asked Harry, who had been idly rolling the condensed ball around on the table while lost in thought.

"I'm not sure yet." Harry replied, before wandering off, still lost in thought.

"Uh…what was that?"

"He'll tell us when he either does whatever it is or decides it's unviable." Tom shrugged.

"O-kay. Don't look so down, kids. Up until this happened, everything was working like a dream. It's better it happened now during testing than during a live transport with people on it. Good work."

"Alright, kiddies. Box up all the logs and what have you and give them to Winky. We'll go over the scheduling and guidance systems and try to fix this. We'll get back to you when we think we've got it all spiffed up."

 

 

The remaining days of the term flew by in a haze of study and test taking. Before they knew it they were packing up to go home, and the upper years were all chattering excitedly about the ball.

"It's weird, going home without the twins."

"I know. It's weird going home without Tom."

"It's weird going home without Colin too." Dennis sighed. "He's staying to take pictures. Dumbledore's gonna let him floo to the Leaky Cauldron later. We're supposed to swing by and get him."

"Where the heck is Hermione, anyway? We need to leave soon if we're to make the train on time."

Hermione appeared shortly after, trailing after her roommates, all of whom looked decidedly peeved.

"Hermione! It's about time! But…where's your cloak? And your trunk?"

"I'm not leaving. I'm going to the ball."

"What happened to your teeth?" Harry asked.

"You can't. You're a fourth year." Ron said, sounding numb and confused.

"Oh…uh…Pansy hexed me yesterday."

"How are you going?" Ron demanded, when it seemed she was ignoring him.

"An older student invited me and I said yes."

"Why would she do that?" Harry asked, confused.

"They did? Why?"

Hermione, about to answer Harry's question, grew frosty and offended at Ron's question.

"Gee Ron, I don't know. Perhaps he finds me attractive and enjoys my company!"

"Who are you going with?" Harry wondered, hoping to stave off an argument. He could find out more about whatever was going on with her being hexed another time.

"Viktor Krum." she replied, jutting her chin out and daring either of them to disbelieve her.

Ron's face went white and then slowly began suffusing with color.

"Wow. Huh. How about that. Have a good time. Make sure Colin gets pictures. We should probably go…train and all. Have a good holiday!" Harry chirped, before dragging Ron off by main force.

He wanted to be gone before Ron said anything unfortunate, but sometimes Ron's foot in mouth disease just couldn't be stopped.

"You're consorting with dark wizards now? Not to mention consorting with the enemy. You're a traitor to Hogwarts!" he growled, tearing his arm away from Harry's grasp, so he could get in Hermione's face.

Harry threw up his hands, grabbed his stuff and stalked to the door, the sound of Ron and Hermione shrieking at one another ringing in his ears.

 

Tom was waiting in the entryway when he came down, chatting idly with Fleur and Viktor and the twins . He raised an eyebrow when he spotted Harry fuming, with a wide-eyed Dennis in tow rather than his usual bookends.

"Ron and Hermione are shrieking at each other in the common room. I tried to drag him away, but no, he just had to stick his foot in it…and you know what they're like. He's probably going to miss the train now."

"That's his problem if he does. Have fun."

"You'll be home after the ball, right?"

"In the morning. Loki said he'd pick me up. We have too much work to do for me to stay here while the rest of the crew is gone."

"Vhat kind of work do you do? It is just, I have heard many things about your mysterious secret clubhouse." Viktor asked.

"That's classified." Tom and Harry said in unison, their faces cold and blank as they stared Viktor down.

Viktor blanched and looked at them uncertainly, until they both began snickering, as did the twins, who were watching them both with fond amusement.

"Seriously though, we're under a secrecy contract." 

"There's a lot of patent applications pending"

" and we'd prefer they actually go through." the twins explained, finishing each other's sentences as was their wont.

"I see. Forgive me prying."

"No problem. At least you just asked nicely. Most people who want to know stomp all over the castle, kick in doors and scream a lot while looking for us." Harry grumbled, while Tom and the twins grimaced or snickered as was their inclination.

"I see." Viktor repeated.

"Oh, speak of the devil."

Harry turned slightly to see Ron stomping down the stairs looking irate. His face was like a thundercloud, which didn't bode well for the nine hour train ride ahead. There was also the problem that Viktor Krum was eyeing Ron like he'd like to challenge him to a duel or something. Great.

"Enjoy your stupid ball." Ron growled at the older kids as he stalked by.

"That's our Ronniekins"

"Always such a little ball of sunshine."

"Enjoy the ride." Tom said with obviously fake sympathy.

"Oh, bite me."

 

Ron sat wrapped in a proverbial thunder-cloud the whole way down to the train. It was quite a relief to get out of the carriage and away from the cloud of furious angst that seemed to fill it. He stormed into a compartment and threw himself down on the seat, glaring at nothing. The rest of them exchanged a glance and decided to go to the dining car instead after dropping off their stuff.

"What has gotten into Ronald?" Luna asked once they were away from him.

"Hermione's going to the Yule Ball with Viktor Krum."

"Yes, I know. She told all the girls in the Garden yesterday."

"She did? She didn't say anything to the rest of us!"

Luna glanced back at the compartment they'd just left Ron in.

"Gee. I wonder why." she said with surprising sarcasm.

"Alright, point." Harry allowed. "Hey, do you have any idea what happened to her teeth and what it has to do with Pansy hexing her?"

"She was complaining about her front teeth and how large they were compared to the rest and how much she hated them, but her parents made her promise not to get them fixed with magic because they wanted to do it the muggle way. She was feeling sorry for herself, Lavender and Parvati were remarking about how tragic it all was and Pansy hexed her and made her teeth grow a foot long and said 'you're welcome' before leaving."

"I don't…" "Silly. She wasn't having her normal teeth fixed, which would have broken her promise, she was having a malicious hex fixed, which is completely different."

"So…Pansy did her a favor…by hexing her?"

"Pretty much."

"No offense, but girls are barmy. And people wonder why I’m not eager to start dating…"

Luna just nodded and ordered tea.

 

There was a slight commotion at the door as Vince, Greg, Millie and Susan came in. Susan looked pale and rather shaken.

"You ok there, Sue?"

"He dismembered him!"

"Who? What?!"

"Ron ripped the arms, legs and head off his Viktor Krum action figure. We went looking to see where all of you were and opened the door just as he started."

"One of his little arms hit me in the nose! It was still twitching!"

"Poor little guy looked so betrayed." Greg nodded, surreptitiously dabbing away a small tear.

"He really did, didn't he?" Vince nodded, face grim.

"I got hit right between the eyes by his head." Millicent noted.

Harry and Luna both shuddered. The action figure had been very lifelike.

"I can't help but think it's stuff like this that eventually leads to a dark lord." Susan whispered.

"Maybe we should make a rising dark lord alarm!" Vince suggested.

"Or, you know, we could just keep an eye on Ron." Harry replied.

"Yeah. That would probably be simpler." Greg nodded.

 

 

"What have you there, my queen?" Odin All-Father asked curiously.

"A gift."

"Oh? From whom?"

"Loki's children."

Odin hesitated in the act of doffing his armor and turned to look at her askance.

"By what means came it here?"

"PRECK." Hedwig said very firmly, from her seat on a branch just outside the window, before puffing her chest out and daring him to make something of it.

Odin sighed and glared at his wife, who was giggling at him.

"I suppose it should not surprise me that Loki would have children with insolent pets."

"Preck."

Frigga covered her mouth, but her eyes danced in amusement at the expression on her husband's face. She patted the bench beside her.

"Come look at it with me."

Odin sighed and did so. He saw then that she had a large book on her lap. The cover was made with a metal of some sort, that had been inscribed with a loving rendition of the world tree, Yddrasil, as it was often depicted on Midgard.

"A story of some sort?"

"Of a sort." Frigga agreed as she opened it.

On the first page was Loki and the two mortal boys he'd taken it into his head to adopt on Midgard. The elder boy was seated beside their son, both their dark heads bent together over a large tome while Loki explained something. The younger boy stood behind their son, leaning against his back and shoulder and listening in.

"I had not realized the mortals had progressed so far."

Odin rumbled, staring at the moving photograph.

"They're sorcerers. They're a bit more advanced than most of the Midgardians." she flipped the page and Odin blinked in surprise, then smiled slightly.

The second picture was far more pleasing to his sensibilities. It showed Loki and the two boys sparring. On the facing page the three of them and several other men seemed to be camping out, while Loki was instructing the boys on how to deal with the animal they'd brought down. The next showed Loki and the other men from the earlier photo, gathered around a table and playing some sort of game of cards and drinking. Loki and the others were laughing and seemed relaxed and at ease in each other's company. Next, the boys moving pieces on a checkered board while the insolent owl and a green snake watched from the side.

The next photograph made Odin sigh in annoyance.

"What part of 'stay off Midgard' is so hard to understand?"

In it stood Loki, Hela, the two boys, and part of Jormungandr's enormous head. The last was of the two boys, Loki and two other men laughing and pelting each other with snow. Beyond that were more pages, but they were blank.

"A gift of the past with a promise of the future." Frigga explained, gesturing to the empty pages. "A fitting gift to mark the end of another year on Midgard."

"Another already? Mortal lives are so fleeting."

"Indeed, and they know that. With this gift they give us not only a way to share in our son's life while he is away from us, but also a way to pull him back from despair when they inevitably fade away."

"It was foolish of him to get attached in the first place."

"Well, you named him _mischief,_ and _chaos_ , and _protector of children_ , not _wisdom_. So I would say the fault lies with you, my husband." Frigga said with a smirk. "And look how well your son lives up to those charges--defying your edicts, though in a way that you can deny if needed, bringing change and renewal to a slowly dying society, and yes, protecting children. Why, every time I look in on him he seems to have another few gathered around him."

"Alright, woman, I think you've made your point." Odin grumbled half-heartedly.

He took the album from her, inspecting it.

"Nicely made."

"The boys seem to be training themselves up as artificers. It was meant to last the test of time, I believe."

Odin nodded and slowly flipped through the pages again.

"He looks happy."

"And why should he not? He has his own group of friends, all of whom are also sorcerers, and so do not look down on him for his use of magic, and he has two children who adore him."

Odin grunted unhappily.

"This is about Vanaheim again, isn't it? It's been a millennia. Let it go."

"Seeing this can you at least see that I was right? It was a mistake to force him to stay here where he was always in direct competition with Thor and always in his shadow. Had we sent him to the mage school on Vanaheim he would have been able to develop his own strengths without hindrance, found his own group of friends…"

"And he never would have been accepted as a prince of Asgard!"

"Is he now?"

"Of course, for I have decreed it!"

"And you could have sent him to Vanaheim for training and still decreed it." Frigga snapped with some asperity.

"Enough, woman! What's done is done!" Odin spluttered.

He never had taken well to criticism. In truth, Frigga was about the only one who could get away with it, so long as they were behind closed doors.

"I have allowed him to gallivant on Midgard with these odd sorcerous kin of his, have I not? Let it be the end to it!"

"Because you realized I was right." Frigga got in one last dig before taking back the album and rising to go put it away.

"GAAAHHH!"


	6. Winter Holidays

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Home for the holidays.

Harry glanced idly around the Leaky Cauldron as he sipped at his butterbeer and waited for his guest to arrive. Just as he began getting bored and impatient the floo flared green and a breathless Hermione stumbled out, scanned the pub and marched over, already talking before she reached him.

"Hello, Harry! Oh, I had the most wonderful time at the ball; Viktor was quite charming and looked very handsome in his dress uniform. Thanks so much for letting me stay. My parents went skiing, so I would have been alone for the holidays since I left school. Are you here alone? Where's Sirius? Or Loki for that matter."

"Sirius and Barty are off doing corporation stuff. Apparently half of corporate headquarters is done and they're moving what operations can be moved so they can resume work after the holidays. They'll be home later. Loki dropped off Tom after breakfast and said he'd see us in a day or two because he was going to go fetch his wife…"

"His wife?"

"Yeah, that's pretty much what Tom and I said. He's been my guardian for two and a half years now and never once mentioned he was married. Anyway, he went to fetch his wife, who's been off on Vanaheim visiting her family or something. Her mum is queen of the Valkyries, her uncle is king of Alfheim, and she has a whole bunch of sisters. She was off on some kind of mission for twenty years, and has been doing the rounds visiting since then." 

"What kind of mission?"

"Dunno. Loki didn't say. Anyway, he went to get her and they're going to go visit Hela to meet her new boyfriend and his family. Jormungund, Fenris and Sleipnir, if Odin will allow it, are supposed to go too." 

"Why are you and Tom being left out?"

"Loki said that because we're mortals we'd probably die if we went, so we have to sit this one out." 

"What about Professor Lupin?"

"He's going to stay at school for the holiday."

"He is? I didn't see him."

"He's working on something with Dumbledore and Snape. They want to take advantage of the time without classes to try to get it done. I'm sure we'll hear about it if they succeed." 

Hermione opened her mouth as though to say something, glanced around and seemed to reconsider.

"I have wards up. You figured out he's a werewolf, did you?"

"I was right then? Yes, I did." 

"Well, you did better than three-fourths of the Garden did. Only a few people figured it out. When the rest found out there was a bit of a bruhaha, until I pointed out that no, he hadn't just become a werewolf, he'd been one since he was four and he'd been our teacher for a while now and had gotten through seven years of Hogwarts as a student before that and they were being ridiculous. It still took a while to calm everyone down. Werewolf prejudice runs deep."

"It is ridiculous!"

"It's because of Fenrir Greyback. He's responsible for most of the werewolves in Britain. He likes to target people and he's a cannibal or something. They said he embraced the curse to such a degree that he's wolfy, super strong and fast, and infectious even in human form. People are afraid of him himself, and then there's the fact that if you get infected your life as you know it is pretty much over unless you can find a sympathetic person like Dumbledore to hire you anyway…and you notice Dumbledore only did that for Remus, no one else, and probably only because he was infected when he was so young." 

"It's still not right. Bad enough to be victim of a curse to begin with without the Ministry and the public adding insult to injury."

"People are irrational when it comes to infectious diseases." Harry shrugged. "And in this case, like with AIDS out on the muggle side, folks treat it like a moral issue rather than a health and safety issue. You become a 'dark creature' when you're infected so…"

"The victim becomes stigmatized by the disease as well as suffering from it. People really suck sometimes. So… Sirius, Barty, Loki and Remus are all gone… where's Tom?"

"Daydreaming and writing bad poetry most likely. He's been kind of moony since he got back. I've gotten the distinct impression he's regretting not staying at Hogwarts so he could snog Fleur for the remainder of the holidays." Harry answered, sounding just a bit sour. 

"I'm sure that will make Fleur happy." Hermione replied neutrally. 

When Harry just looked at her with an obvious question on his face, she shrugged uncomfortably and looked away. 

"I spent some time talking to her last night because I was at the Champion's table, and Tom and Viktor seemed to have hit it off--Viktor confided to me that it was nice to talk to another boy who didn't keep bringing the conversation back to quidditch all the time. He said he loves the sport but has other interests, but most folks just focus on the game so it's hard for him to find other boys he can just have a conversation with." 

"So you were talking to Fleur…"

"And I think Lavender and Parvati were right. It's not actually much fun being her. When she was still like Gabrielle is now--one of her older cousins was at school with her to keep her from maturing early--she had a lot of friends, boys and girls. She said when her allure began to manifest the girls became jealous and started to shun her and be very catty to her, and the boys started following her around like starving wolves. She said part of her wishes she could keep Gabrielle little forever, but that Gabrielle is eager to grow up… just like she used to be. She was quietly giddy over the fact that she actually got to enjoy the ball without being drooled on, stepped on, or assaulted. Can you imagine? Her father works for the French Ministry, so she's been to a lot of balls, but this was the first one she actually had fun at!" 

Her lips quirked with wry humor then.

"By the end of the night she was curled around Tom like a possessive kitten. He didn't seem to mind." 

"So you've decided she's actually a person now?"

"Yes. I suppose she is. The whole thing is still weird for me. Giant birds that throw fireballs, and wizards want to get frisky with them!" 

"Growing up muggle doesn't exactly prepare you for inter-species relationships, does it?"

"No, it really doesn't." 

"Do you like her?" Harry wondered.

"I'm not sure. She's still kind of snobby."

"Might be a defense mechanism." Harry shrugged. "What else are you going to do when all your friends turn on you? You can cry, you can get angry, or you can stick your nose in the air and act like you wanted it that way." 

"Like I said, I'm not sure. I think you may be right though. She was obviously sad that Tom left in the morning. When I told her I was leaving too… I got the distinct impression she was disappointed." 

"Good to know. Don't mention what I said about Tom mooning. He gets embarrassed easy and he'd probably kill us both." 

"I'll keep that in mind." 

They fell silent as the barkeep brought over a warm butterbeer for Hermione and a second for Harry who had finished his last one. Hermione smiled appreciatively and took a deep draught.

"Mmm. Perfect for a cold winter's day. So, what have you been up to lately?"

Harry smiled rather ruefully. "I was trying to figure out how to recreate Mjolnir."

"Mjolnir? Thor's hammer? What was there to figure out?"

"Loki told me Mjolnir was a one-of-a-kind weapon forged by the dwarves of Nidavellir in the heart of a dying star."

Hermione's forehead creased in puzzlement for a moment and then cleared.

"The portkey tunnel collapse?"

"Yup. I realized it was like a small, Earth-bound version, in a manner of speaking. I can't figure how to manage it though. You saw how small the train material was after it collapsed. Now, granted, the trains were hollow, but it's still something to consider. How much metal would be needed to make a good-sized, very dense hammer? Probably a few tons. I would have to figure a way to get tons of metal into the tunnel and purposefully crash it so the collapse would begin, and with precision split-second timing, send in a hammer mold of some sort that would hopefully gather up the metal before it's made into a dense ball, in the correct shape to completely fill the mold, oh, and the mold has to be able to completely withstand the collapse so it will actually work. I can't think of any realistic way to make it feasible, and it would be a very expensive experiment. One also has to consider that, if it didn't work, I still have a super-dense, super heavy bowling ball to contend with. It might pop out of the tunnel, drop right through the ground to the center of the earth or something, or have its own local gravity field and start pulling nearby stuff towards it…"

"You probably shouldn't chance it." 

"Yeah. Then I was wondering, 'Hey, if we can locally turn off gravity, maybe we can locally turn it on, and I could just throw gravity increasing charms at the tons of metal and shape it that way'. The thing is, that could make a very big mess if anything goes wrong…and I may not have enough power to actually make my charms simulate a collapsing portkey-tunnel, let alone a collapsing star."

"A valid point."

"Then, thinking about power and portkey tunnels made me think of the Bifrost scans we've been studying. We've come to the conclusion that they're almost the same but opposite. The Bifrost makes a traceable tunnel through regular space. It's loud, it's bright, it's showy, and it's really, really powerful. A portkey travels through extra-dimensional space, and it's not as bright, not loud, and not as showy. It's also far less powerful. It's like the difference between an escalator and a lift. They both accomplish the same thing, but they go about it in two different ways."

"And because it's so much less powerful, it isn't exactly ideal for interstellar travel, just terrestrial."

"Exactly. We need to boost the power on the spell." 

"Except we've already learned that having multiple wizards cast the spell at the same time has terrible consequences."

Harry sighed and nodded. They'd tried it three times and each had failed in a different way. The first time the two spells cancelled each other out, the second the object had been torn in half. The last...

"When we're done with the project, someone should really study Seamus."

"Yeah, he's got a real talent for making stuff explode and catch on fire." Harry laughed. "I have to say though that I’m glad we were practicing with an old dishcloth and not a glass sphere or a metal bar or something. That could have been bad."

Hermione shuddered. The exploded, flaming dishcloth had done quite enough damage; she didn't want to imagine what kind of damage would have resulted from a more robust item.

"So, yeah, multiple wizards don't increase the potency of the spell, just make it unstable. So, what we need to do is find a way to amplify a single spell."

"The SHIELD Academy…"

"Yeah. We both agreed that guy was trying to figure out how to make a small, portable battery with infinite energy conjured from someplace else; they just can't figure out how to manage it."

"Yes, kick-starting the thing in to working would take so much energy that it would sort of defeat the purpose of making such a thing…"

"Yeah, you'd need a source of infinite energy to start up your infinite energy makers… But we don't have to worry about that. We just need to make a conjuring machine for energy…"

"…and hook the portkey spell into it to amplify it." Hermione concluded, an excited smile breaking across her face. "When do we start?"

"Depends. Do you need to do any last minute Christmas shopping?"

"N… Actually yes. Something small."

"Pansy?"

"She did me a good turn even if she went about it in a rude way." Hermione shrugged.

"I should probably pick up something for Loki's wife, just in case he brings her back with him." 

Hermione jumped when Harry's hand suddenly shot out like he was catching a snitch. He pulled his arm back and peeked into his hand carefully. Whatever was in there was buzzing now in agitation.

"You have something you can make a jar out of?"

"Why? What is it?"

"It's an animagus that was trying to spy on us." 

The buzzing in Harry's hand grew more frantic. Hermione narrowed her eyes and made a jar as requested.

Once sealed, Harry held it up so they could see his prize. It was a jeweled beetle that looked like it was wearing tiny glasses. 

"Any clue who it is?"

"No. You?"

"All I know is they're unregistered, whoever they are. There are only seven registered animagi currently in Britain…excuse me, eight. Your godfather had to register when he got out of prison, didn't he?"

"Yeah. Well then, it looks like we're going to the Ministry before heading back. Mr. Beetle here can wait until we're done our Christmas shopping." 

Hermione glanced at her school trunk, which she had with her, the jar with the beetle and then at the bar man.

"Actually… we might be able to just leave it with the barkeep and let him take care of it. This fellow, whoever it is, was lurking around here, spying on his customers. He might agree to hold on to my trunk too so we won't have to lug it around the alley with us." 

"Yeah, alright." Harry agreed. The beetle was still frantically trying to escape, though it seemed less frantic since hearing they were going to put it in someone else's keeping. He narrowed his eyes at the jar, made it unbreakable and then sealed the lid with a condition that it could only be unsealed by an Auror--a little trick Barty had showed him.  
The beetle slumped down into the bottom of the jar in defeat.

_"Hem, hem."_

Harry and Hermione turned to look at the squat, toad-like woman standing nearby. She was dressed all in pink, and had a little bow in her hair; something you'd expect to see on a young girl, not a middle-aged witch. The woman continued once she had their attention. Her smug, malicious smile and glittering eyes, not to mention her overall appearance all quite at odds with the breathy little-girl voice that emerged.

"What naughty children we have here. You're both old enough to know that little children aren't allowed to use magic outside of school. I'm afraid you're both in very big trouble." 

Harry surreptitiously vanished his wards and pitched his voice so the rest of the common room could hear his answer.

"Actually, ma'am, the Reasonable Restriction Against Underaged Sorcery has a few exemptions. Use of magic by an underaged witch or wizard is allowed in defense of one's own life or that of another." Harry replied firmly. 

Umbridge--for it could be no one else-- gave a very fake titter and made a big show of looking around. 

"I see no danger here. So you're not only a naughty boy who uses magic when he's not allowed, you're a liar as well." 

Harry glanced at Hermione meaningfully. She nodded very slightly and leaned back so he could see she already had her PDA out and was sending for assistance. Harry stood from the booth, jar in hand to keep Umbridge's attention off her until help came. 

"This here" Harry pitched his voice to carry "is an illegal animagus that was lurking around us for some nefarious purpose"

"Now really!"

"The last time I was in this situation, the animagus turned out to be a death eater that escaped justice! The very man who had betrayed my dear parents to their deaths! Given that this was so the last time I encountered an illegal animagus…"

"That is quite enough! You will cease this nonsense right now!"

"…I feel that capturing this one easily falls under 'protecting one's life or that of another'. I am Harry Potter, the so-called Boy-Who-Lived, and my friend Hermione is muggleborn! If this illegal animagus should prove to be a death eater like the last one was…"

"I have told you to be silent! I am an officer of the Ministry and you will obey me!"

"…then my life and that of my friend were in fact in danger and I was completely within my rights to capture this person! What has the world come to when a law-abiding citizen is harassed for doing the right thing? For protecting the common good? For removing possibly dangerous criminals from the vicinity of innocent law-abiding citizens?" 

"Yeah, what's with you, lady?"  
"Well, I never."  
"Oh, you dear, brave children!" 

"ENOUGH! That is quite enough of that, young man. I gave you an order and you have continued to defy me! I'll see your wand snapped for this!" Umbridge growled, snatching away the jar with the beetle in it. "Enough of your defiance and your lies! Do you think it's funny to frighten people with wild tales? Do you? All I see is a common bug in a jar, and a naughty boy and… damn it! Open!" 

She glared at the jar which she'd been trying to open for the past minute and pulled her wand, tapping in on the lid, then again and then repeatedly. By now her face was red with both anger and embarrassment. 

"Dark magic, is it? I'll see you in prison for this." 

There were a couple of astonished gasps in the crowd and Umbridge smiled as she felt the room begin to shift subtly in her favor.

"Hardly. That's a Ministry spell to secure evidence for Aurors. For all of your talk of arrests and imprisonment, I believe you have just proven categorically that you are not an officer of the law and are in no way authorized to be making such claims. I'm pretty sure impersonating an Auror, making false arrests, slander, inciting the public, and trying to free a prisoner that has been secured for law enforcement are all quite illegal. I think it may be you that's going to prison." 

Umbridge pointed her wand at him angrily as she felt the crowd's sympathy shift abruptly away from her once more. Tom the barkeep disarmed her, caught her wand and strode towards the floo. 

"H-HOW DARE YOU? DO YOU NOT KNOW WHO I AM? I AM THE SENIOR UNDERSECRETARY TO THE MINISTER OF MAGIC!"

"Just some secretary and you're running around acting like this? For shame!" Hermione scolded in her best bossy know-it-all voice.

"I know, right? She's got some nerve, doesn't she!" Harry agreed.

Tom the barkeep was only halfway to the floo when it flared, spitting out Barty, Sirius, and Penny one after the other. 

"My god, woman, is there no end to your infamy? Not content with harassing me, trying to rob me of my business and property you've decided to move on to threatening my godson?!" Sirius howled. 

The street side door opened and Tom hurried in, wand out. "You're unbelievable! You're out of my sight for ten minutes and you're being arrested?!" 

The floo flared again disgorging Colin, who began snapping pictures of everything before he'd even quite found his feet. Remus, Dumbledore and Professor Snape stepped out a moment later, shortly followed by Luna and her father.

"MAKE WAY FOR THE PRESS!" 

The crowd in the pub, who were already looking a bit wild-eyed at all the people descending on them, turned in unison when another small crowd came hurrying in from the Alley side door. Draco was in the lead, dragging Pansy along behind him. They were both carrying bags and had obviously been doing some last minute Christmas shopping. 

"Unhand them! My father will hear about this!" 

Vince and Greg, followed by their fathers, came ambling out a moment later. They'd obviously been in the middle of lunch, as they were all carrying their plates and trying to finish even while looking around to see what was going on. The floo flared again and Neville Longbottom stepped out, wooden practice warhammer in hand and looking like he meant business.

"OUT OF THE WAY! AUROR COMING THROUGH!"

"Oh thank goodness." Tom the barkeep muttered, wiping at his forehead nervously.

Pansy, Draco and the Crabbes and Goyles shifted aside, revealing Kingsley Shaklebolt.

"Oh, hey professor." Vince waved. 

Kingsley nodded and smiled then cast a searching look over the pub.

"Just what the heck is going on in here?" 

Everyone began talking at once.

Kingsley sighed, but Professor Dumbledore made a loud bang with his wand that quieted everyone down.

"Miss Granger, as I believe it was you who sent a call for help…?" he glanced at Remus, who nodded "Why don't you tell us what happened here?"

"Of course, professor. Harry and I were just sitting here, minding our own business when…" 

 

"Hey, kids."

"Hi Sirius, hi Barty."

"So, quite a day, huh?" Barty laughed.

"Yeah, tell me about it." Harry agreed sourly.

"What did they do with that odious woman after they took her away?" Hermione wanted to know.

"She might very well end up doing time. She keeps making the Ministry look bad, keeps getting reprimanded for it and then just goes and does another boneheaded thing. If it had just been the three of you things might have gone differently, but she had her diva moment in the middle of a crowded pub. Even if she just ends up getting a slap on the wrist, we're hopeful it means she'll stop being such a pain to all of us from here on out. Well…she's more stubborn and boneheaded than most, but anything could happen. It's not all bad. The Ministry is now very interested in the PDAs after seeing how quickly all of us got there. They're considering ordering a few and doing a small trial run before committing further, but that's more than we could get them to agree to before. Lucius is supposed to be having a meeting with the department heads next week to discuss it further." Sirius explained.

"At least something good came of all this." Tom sighed.

"There's actually more good news than that. Luna and Colin sold their story and pictures to the Prophet, and Xenophilius has a lead on a story. The animagus was Rita Skeeter. She's apparently a gossip columnist for Witch Weekly."

"Is that who it was? Lavender and Parvati are going to be upset. They read her column religiously." Hermione remarked.

"Well, anyway, Xeno noted that a lot of people looked really upset and sort of furtive as word spread of who had been captured. He went and asked the nearest ones if she was a good friend. They all said "NO" very firmly, but they still looked upset and twitchy. He thinks she might have been using her animagus to gather dirt on people to blackmail them or something--anything she couldn't print in her column." 

"Well! That should be fun. Nothing like a nice blackmail ring to shake things up!" Barty said cheerfully.

Sirius snickered and then grinned at all of them. "Actually we've more good news than that. Lucius sold a couple of your mining rigs, just parts, not the whole shebang."

"He did? To who?"

"Couple of folks. He's the one that's been putting all the patents in, as you know, so he knows what all everyone's made, even if he doesn't know it's ultimate purpose. He thinks everything made is meant to be sold if possible, and so he's been trying to do that. He's sold four to different goblin clans, two to a couple of clans of gnomes and two more to some dwarf clans. Also, we pre-sold shop space and living space to enough folks for Wild Rumpus…"

"Who the what now?"

"Wild Rumpus. It's the entertainment district-slash-village we're setting up."

"I thought you weren't allowed to make a village?"

"The three the Ministry villages gathered up all the families with small children that were stranded in the middle of muggle areas, and had room to gather up a bunch of newly marrieds who will likely be having kids in the next few years that didn't have an old family home with good wards to live in, like this place, or Lucy's. The ones that remained in muggle areas mostly work in the muggle world as part of the muggle liaison office, and so couldn't really disappear without a lot of folks wondering where they'd disappeared to. There's still a crop of young, fresh out of Hogwarts folks that aren't married yet, and not likely to be any time soon, who'd like a chance to live on their own for a bit before settling down. We talked about it and realized there was a market there, and it has the added benefit of making sure Wild Rumpus isn't a ghost town every night when the shops close. All the shops we're building will have a flat atop it suitable for a small family. We're also building a few blocks of flats, two storeys each, with eight units, and several small cottages for old folks who want to give the family home to younger relatives and have a smaller place, or any newly-married's that want to start a family but can't find space in the Ministry villages. We're also going to build a small hotel to take advantage of tourist trade once the trains are up and running. All the sales Lucy's been making, on top of the down payments from folks wanting space in the village have kept us solvent."

"Oh. I mean, it's okay, I guess, that he sold some. It just surprised me is all." 

"We were thinking of taking the basic design of the mining equipment and enchanting it to sort garbage and stuff so we could sell to a wider market. A lot of countries are thinking of getting in on the landfill thing to give themselves some more elbow room. A couple of places are thinking about taking out the junk graveyards and charming up an illusion to make it appear they're still there. If we can design machines to help facilitate the process while it's still in its infancy we should make a mint." 

"Strangely enough we actually have a design already to do that." Tom offered.

"You do?"

"Yeah. Me and Ron worked on it. That's why we kept asking you what all you found in the landfills. One of the designs we came up with should be perfect for a car or tire graveyard, not so much for planes."

"Where are these designs?" 

"Um…one of the old notebooks, I think. I have mine up in my room…"

"Winky!" Barty called. He sent his elf off to fetch the notebooks, and began flipping through them when she returned.

"Orange tab was ours. It'll take you forever if you look through everything."

"Orange. Let's see… mining, mining… flying armor?"

"What? We thought it would be cool."

"…mining, mining, mining… stuff about rocks… stuff about gases… solar-powered oven… Ah! Here we are. Did you make any of these or test them?"

"No. Sirius already had a bunch of people with jobs there before we got to a point where we were somewhat confident the things would work alright." 

"Well, no matter. We can have the boys at the corporation whip up a few models for testing purposes. If everything works, we'll file applications for them. Excellent." 

"What's that thing?" Sirius asked, flipping through another of the notebooks. 

"Oh, that's for sucking up spilled oil in the ocean. And trash. You mentioned you were thinking of doing that." 

"Huh. Have them build one of these too. We'll have to figure out where the spilled…"

"This is where it was last summer." Tom interjected. He laid down his PDA and brought up a 3D world map that had several blobs marked on it. "The black blobs are oil. The grey lines are trash and such being drug along on the currents, where they'll eventually reach the red blobs, which are of course the kilometers-high piles of trash where the currents meet." 

Hermione and the two men all grimaced. 

"You said your doohickey collects trash as well, right?" Barty asked. 

"Yeah, and it's self-propelling. It's also laced with layers of muggle repelling charms, and as you can see in the specs is supposed to blend in with the surrounding ocean to minimize the chance of muggles finding it. If a muggle does get their hands on it, it's supposed to pop back to the Garden. Tom did most of that. It's supposed to allow fish to pass through it unharmed. I added that. I saw a thing on the telly about marine animals getting trapped by plastic rings floating in the ocean. The whole point is to help make the ocean better for them, not to hurt them as well."

"This came at just the right time. We've been sending folks through all the waterways so often that they're actually clean and trash free. We have some muggle dump trucks making regular deposits, but it's such small amounts, given what we started with, that I was worried of running out of work for everyone. This could be just the boon we needed to step production back up." 

"Oh. Well good."

 

"It was nice to see Hela. Unfortunately, Hel was as unwelcoming as ever. Gurg seems nice." Sigyn commented as she and Loki strolled down the hallway towards their quarters. 

It had been some time since she'd been in her apartments in Asgard; she did hope the staff had kept it tidy while she was gone. She came to a halt upon realizing Loki was no longer beside her. She looked around in confusion, until one of the guards nearby gestured towards a doorway they had passed moments before. 

_"Rude. I was right in the middle of talking!"_ she thought irritably. 

She knew Loki was sometimes easily distracted, but this was ridiculous. She strode back towards the doorway, ready to give him a piece of her mind, only to sigh when she saw the scene within. 

_"Thor. I should have known."_

The crown prince of Asgard had her husband by the collar and was towing him along, protesting all the way, towards the lounge within, where his followers, the Warriors Three and the Lady Sif sat waiting. 

"I shall be bored to distraction! All that sitting about, nattering on and on! 'Tis no fit occupation for a warrior!" Thor exclaimed.

"It most certainly is not! A waste of our youth and vitality. Negotiations are the pastime of old men. There is adventure to be had! Wine, women and song!" Fandral agreed expansively.

"Food! Exotic delicacies from beyond the realms, just waiting to be sampled!" Volstagg agreed before taking a large bite out a roast haunch of some sort he'd likely stolen from the palace kitchens.

"Battles unfought, treasure to be claimed, justice to be meted out." Hogun agreed gravely.

"I could not have said it better myself! Bah! Negotiations!' Thor agreed.

"Thor… if the All-Father wishes you to accompany him, I do not believe you can simply get out of it. Negotiations may be the province of old men" and here Sif gave Fandral a dirty look "but sadly they are also the province of kings and princes. One day you will ascend the throne and it will be your job alone to handle such things." 

"As much as I hate to agree with Sif on, well, anything really, she does rather have a point." Loki sighed.

"When I am king my faithful advisors will handle such matters. I will devote myself to the defense of Asgard against any who would challenge our might!" Thor laughed. 

"It is the job of advisors to advise, Thor, which is why they're called advisors and not kings. It's rather the whole point of things." 

"Yes. It would seem even Loki can speak truth…one in a great while at least." Sif sniffed, casting a dark look at the younger prince. 

Loki just rolled his eyes at her. He was quite used to Sif's barbed tongue, as she'd been sharpening it on him since they were children. Honestly…make one little mistake when you were a child, and the woman never forgot it. He'd replaced her stupid hair after he cut it off, hadn't he? And really, she should thank him! Blondes were a dime a dozen on Asgard. Only a few had black hair. He'd done her a favor, but was he thanked? No.

"As fascinating as seeing Lady Sif attempt to be witty is, I was actually in the middle of something when you drug me off like that. In case you've forgotten Sigyn has returned…"

"She has? Really? Why'd she go do a fool thing like that for? She had the perfect chance to escape, what with that long mission of hers." Fandral laughed.

"Indeed. I had hoped she'd show more sense than that." Hogun agreed. 

"Princess Sigyn! Welcome back. It has been long indeed since you last graced us with your presence." Volstagg spoke up hurriedly, hoping to drown out the other two's less than flattering comments. 

"Funny. By the sound of things you all hoped I would stay gone far longer." Sigyn replied, casting a reproving glance at Fandral and Hogun. "Brother, if you would be so kind as to return my husband I would greatly appreciate it."

"Ah, certainly." Thor agreed. 

He was not yet done complaining, but decided it might be best to allow both of them to leave before his friends made more jests at their expense; though he had no proof, he strongly suspected that many of the pranks that had struck the court over the years and laid low many of the denizens of the palace were actually Sigyn's work and not Loki's, though he took the blame for all of them. He shuddered to think what might befall his friends should the two of them decide to work together. Seeing the frown still upon Sigyn's face and the huffy way Loki was straightening his collar, he thought he'd made a good call. 

"You should stay a while. We all have not seen you in years." Sif offered grudgingly.

"While I do thank you for the offer, I'm afraid my husband and I have plans for the next few days." 

"Days? Surely not." Fandral snickered. His smile gradually faded when he realized Sigyn was simply looking at him with pity.

"I see. Perhaps it is just as well you never married." she said before turning to Loki expectantly. Loki gave her a toothy grin and the two of them swept off without another word.

Fandral looked quite shaken by the whole exchange. 

"She was joking right? Not _days._ "

Volstagg just laughed and Hogun grimaced. Sif however looked oddly thoughtful.

"Well. Perhaps there is indeed some use in a man taking up the study of sorcery after all." 

Now Thor looked disturbed as well.

 

"Harry, would you focus, please? I can't concentrate with you bouncing around like that!" Hermione said through gritted teeth.

"I need the practice. Loki said a master archer should be able to shoot while in motion, react in a moment's notice, catch arrows and send them back in an eyeblink. He said all the historical movies that simply have all the archers just line up and fire is rather misleading, because while they did do that, they did a whole lot more." 

"So more Legolas and less Robin Hood?"

"Exactly. Damn. I still don't have the timing right."

"When exactly are you going to need to shoot an arrow while doing a backflip on a trampoline?"

"You never know. Could happen. Knowing my luck it certainly will. Hmmm. Note to self. Stay away from trampoline stores until I have this down." 

"Harry!"

"I got the battery all set up. Poke at it for a while and see if you can figure the trick to adding the portkey spell to it so they'll mesh right."

"Like I said, I can't concentrate!"

"Consider it good training. What if you have to do exotic magic while ninjas are attacking and bouncing all over the place? Huh?" 

"Oh, honestly!" 

"Remember first year when we jumped into the Devil's Snare and you panicked and forgot you could do magic and we all nearly died?"

Hermione deflated, because really, what could she say to that? 

She went back to poking at the 'battery', which was really just a metal tube Harry had whipped up in his "mad scientist's lab". She tried again to layer the portkey spell into it, but it didn't take, instead it seemed to trigger the battery. It began to hum and small arcs of electricity seemed to start gathering at one end. 

"Um…Harry?" 

"What?"

Several things then happened at once. A beam of blue energy shot out of the one end and went hurtling towards the trampoline Harry was on. Harry bounced and leapt into the air, ready to try another shot. His eyes widened in panic upon spotting the blue beam hurtling towards him and he brought his bow around to try to shoot. Hermione was already leaping towards the doorway when the tube shot backwards from the force of the energy ejecting from it and sent a swath of blue energy across where she'd been sitting moments before. She ducked behind the door, pulled her wand and tried to remember the containment spell Harry had shown her earlier in case of emergency. Harry's arrow slammed into the tube, which blew up just as the containment shield surrounded it. 

Harry fell towards the floor and fell further than he was expecting, as the trampoline was no longer there. He landed badly, stumbled and fell over. There was a moment's quiet, and then the sound of many feet running towards them. Harry sensed something coming up behind him and rolled out of the way, blanching when he realized the blue beam had hit the opposite wall and bounced off the shielding there, and was now headed towards the opposite wall, where it would likely bounce again. He quickly calculated the angle, and made sure to not be where it was going to bounce next. He ran for the door and slammed it behind him, just as Sirius, Barty, Tom came running.

"What happened? We heard an explosion and the containment alarm went off." Sirius demanded.

"Oh…well. Uh, we made a battery. Except, it seems it's actually a death ray. We don't have a trampoline anymore. Oh…and the death ray is still bouncing around in there. It's okay though. It's just the one. I managed to shoot the tube, just as Hermione got the containment shield up. That reminds me. We need to write this down."

Hermione nodded and dug out her PDA, which Barty snatched.

"Haha, yeah. You're not writing down that you accidentally made a death ray. In fact, let's never speak of this again. I don't care if the dementors are gone, I'm not going back to Azkaban." 

"We have a trampoline?" Tom asked.

"Had. I think the word you're looking for is _had._ Good news though. I managed to shoot an arrow and hit my target while doing a backflip!"

"You did it?"

"Yeah. Apparently my life has to be in danger."

"You're probably overthinking it while…"

"If we could get back to the death ray in the ballroom?!" Sirius said, his voice strangled.

Barty made the wall opaque so they could see into the ballroom.

"It seems to be dissipating. Good shielding in there." 

"My father. He was a paranoid bastard." 

"It came in handy." 

"If we could stay on subject… How do you make a battery and end up with a death ray?"

"Because it's really strong? Blame SHIELD. It's their specs we used to make it. I guess they wanted to power a lot more than a portkey. And possibly to have a handy death ray. I wouldn't put it past them. They're kind of hard core." Harry said defensively.

"You can't keep working on this." Barty sighed.

"We just need to tweak it some and…"

"No, you don't… Look, let's find someplace to sit down a bit and I'll explain, alright?"

 

Once they were settled in the kitchen with hot chocolate and ginger biscuits for everyone, Barty picked up his story.

"After Grindlewald, there was so much widespread destruction that people were spooked. The Ministries worldwide, under the leadership of the ICW decided to start leveling everyone out so there couldn't be another super-powered dark lord. They started putting a leveler in all the new wands that were made from that point on. If the Ministry gets wind that you're trying to build a spell amplifier of any sort, they'll seize the patent application, your prototype, probably clean out all our homes, headquarters and your little Garden, throw us in Azkaban and throw away the key, so to speak. We cannot…"

"Levelers?" Hermione asked curiously.

"Yes. Everyone over a certain strength level…oddly enough, anyone just above the magical strength of those on the committee…had an extra bit added to their wand upon purchase that restricted their access to a large portion of their magic, except for if their lives were in danger. In any case, back to your death ray. I'm sure you can see that, given that wizards are actively being suppressed, finding out that you've made something made to amplify a wizard's magic by a magnitude beyond what even an unrestricted wand can, that there will be much hue, cry and consternation?" 

"We need it though. We need to boost the portkey so it can handle interstellar distances. A bunch of wizards, magical creatures and what have you stuck together in a little ship for weeks or months at a time is just asking for trouble." 

Barty looked ready to refute him, but then he sagged in place. He knew very well that Harry was right.

"We can't file paperwork on it. We can't let anyone know that you made this thing. We, that is Barty, Remus and I will work on it from here on out and try to make it a battery rather than a death ray. It goes no further." Sirius decided.

Hermione sat back, defeated, as her hopes of scoring a paper from the project to get her name out there went up in metaphorical flames.

"Ah, don't be like that. We'll just work on something else. Oh! You can help me design a space station. Or you could do it and I can give you pointers once in a while. Oh, hey! We could run experiments on it. Millie and Nev can stuff it with plants and animals and we can monitor them. Oh! And Tom can test out his environmental systems in an airless environment and see if they pass muster."

"A space station…" Hermione murmured, already seeing the possibilities. "Though…isn't that jumping the gun a bit? We don't have a working ship of any sort. We haven't even sent test probes out!"

"We will, and once we have we'll be ready."

"But first we'll decorate, now that we're all here." Sirius interjected. "It's Christmas eve." 

"Damn it. I wanted to go to the library. Oh, if only the ball had been held on Monday instead of Tuesday!" Hermione deflated again.

"They were originally going to hold it Christmas Day, but someone pointed out that the solstice was on Tuesday." Tom shrugged. 

"No worries. We can still toss around ideas and make lists. We'll just hit the library after Boxing day, is all." 

"I guess." 

"None of that. It's the holidays! Let's get the place gussied up and then gorge ourselves on treats later." 

 

Hermione was given her own ornament, with the Hunting Dogs constellation centered in it, in honor of her grandmother Chara, since she, much like Harry and Tom, didn't have a star name of her own. She grumbled indignantly about the house elf heads, until she saw the living house elves cheerfully putting Santa hats on them. She was rather disturbed by Kreacher polishing a plaque like the one holding the other heads that already had his name on it and looking wistful. 

_"Leave him alone. He was alone a long time and he's slightly senile. He sees it as an honor. It means he gets to stay and be part of the family forever. You may not like it, but to him it's something to look forward to, to know he won't simply be forgotten when he can no longer work."_ Harry told her quietly. 

She was obviously still unhappy about the whole thing, but for once she kept her peace. He did note she seemed to go out of her way to be nice to Kreacher from there on out though. 

 

"What are you working on?" Barty asked after the kids went to bed.

"The death ray. I was thinking. We need a battery for more than the propulsion system for the ship. Remember how I said I had them build the workspaces a bit into the quidditch field at the stadium, but left most of it open?" Sirius replied, still studying the schematics the kids had given them.

"Yeah…"

"I was planning to make a larger deep space simulator in there, but after building started I wondered if I could actually manage it. The room Moony and I made was no easy feat to manage. Making it the proper conditions and containing it was no picnic. The quidditch field, even with some of the space gone, is easily a hundred times the volume…if not more. Since we don't want word getting out about what we're doing, we have to make it. That may be easier said than done." 

"We'd be walking a very dangerous line there. It's dangerous enough, adding it to a portkey. A large flash of magic, if it shows up on anyone's sensors, can be ignored and written off as a fluke. You're talking about a long, sustained series of enchantments while we get it set up. If anyone picks it up, they're going to come looking, and then the gig is up." 

"I already have a plan for that."

"Yeah? What is it?"

"Fudge mentioned they were unloading some of the muggle liaison office because they found out the Unspeakables were doing a lot of the same things already, but you have to tell them you need something for a certain job or reason for them to be of any use, because of the rather stringent secrecy contracts they're under. I just need to mention to Fudge that I'm worried about muggle scientists picking up signals from headquarters because we're manufacturing so much stuff there. After that business with Azkaban he's likely to take the possibility much more seriously. He'll go tell the Unspeakables he needs a shield to hide a lot of magic in a location."

"Why don't we just… If they give it to us or install it, they'll ignore the fact that magic is essentially being hidden from them, whereas if we do it ourselves they'll get suspicious and come to investigate. That could work."

"And once the shields are up, we'll hopefully have the amplifier worked out and ready to go and we can get started on constructing the super-duper deep space simulator, and we can test it on a portkey too."

"We probably should be testing stuff like that. The girl, Hermione, was right. We haven't even tried to send any probes or test launches yet. We should try sending something to the moon and back by regular portkey so we know how long it takes so we'll have a baseline to compare any improvements to. We don't know how long it will take to get the amplifier right…especially when you consider that the first attempt made a death ray and vaporized the trampoline." 

"Tell me about it…though to be fair, it isn't like they're the first ones to accidentally make a death ray. It happens."

"I know that…though accidental death rays don't usually vaporize stuff on contact, they just blow up."

"Muggles designed this one. You know how violent and bloodthirsty they are." 

"You seem to be decidedly less pro-muggle these days." 

"Well, I didn't know before that they routinely send people all over the world to kill people that are trying very hard to kill other people, who mostly want to kill people for money, or because other people are trying to kill them. When stuff like that happens among us, it's an aberration, not the norm… and if that dementor fellow was in fact the first muggleborn, well, it was a wizard that was more muggle than not that was behind all the aberrations!" Sirius scoffed. "You, I and most of the people we know are still haunted to this day by the insanity and destructiveness of the war years. For muggles, that kind of insanity seems to be their normal behavior. Can you blame me?"

"No. I was just surprised is all." 

"When we first started all this, I just wanted to be involved so I could be more part of Harry's life after missing so much time. I was really proud of him for not embracing the muggle prejudice that many wizards seem to suffer from. I also wanted something to take my mind off things. Since then though, I realized I didn't have the first clue what muggles were actually capable of, and that while I would never have joined the nutters on Voldemort's side, I'm not sure the pro-muggle Order of the Phoenix was really that much better of a choice. The more I hear about SHIELD, the more I realize that Harry was absolutely right. We need to get away before they destroy us all." 

 

 

Andromeda sat up from the pensieve she'd been working with and made a few last notations on her report, before standing and stretching to relieve some of the kinks in her back and neck. While doing so, she noted a blinking light on the side table.  
It was a readout of magic done in the Garden at Hogwarts and Grimmauld Place. 

"Good lord. What on earth was… Cass? Lu? Come here a moment." 

"You called dear?" the portrait of Cassiopeia Black asked curiously as she stepped back into her frame.

"Where's the fire?" the portrait of Lucretia Prewitt, nee Black, asked a moment later. 

"What on earth did those little idiots do? Judging by the size of this spike…"

"They accidentally made a death ray." Cassiopeia answered calmly. "It's alright. No one was hurt, though the trampoline set up in the ballroom got vaporized." 

"Vaporized?!" Andromeda repeated in horror. "What on earth were they trying to do?"

"Make a spell amplifier."

"Vaporized is not amplified, it's overkill!" 

"Well, they know that now." Lucretia snorted. "Sirius, young Barty and the other fellow are going to take over that project."

"Ugh! This is so frustrating! We already have a perfectly good spell amplifier here in the Department of Mysteries and I can't tell anyone!"

"Actually…we think there may be a loophole."

"Spare me your loopholes. You both got yourselves killed looking for loopholes." 

"Because we were concerned, and the clock is ticking and no one was properly aware of how little time we may have left." Lucretia sighed.

"I had hoped my Galaxy in a globe would cause enough of a stir that people would come asking us for help to leave the planet, but that damned Merlin kept it under the radar somehow. His brain was so rotted, he still thought he was going to emerge and rule the muggles like a god someday, so long as he conquered the damned Slytherins first. BAH."

"It wasn't until Harry spoke up that they began making the splash they should have." Lucretia agreed. "Which leads us back to the possible loophole. We think Harry might technically be king of magical Britain."

"Uh…what?" Andromeda demanded.

"We've been thinking about it. Merlin simply wanted to destroy the heir of Slytherin, and he thought he could just let him run amok, blacken his name and take him out, but even in pieces he was too strong. Voldemort didn't know he was technically king of Hogwarts, so he already had that. And though everyone likes to pretend it didn't happen, he conquered the Ministry before he fell. Harry, as both conqueror and closest relative, became his heir. We believe that Merlin, through his vessel Dumbledore, was regent since Voldemort's fall. Loki Odinson is now." Cassiopeia explained.

"Harry decided to take Tom Riddle back as family and forget all the unpleasantness that went before and is content to let him remain Slytherin's heir. Both boys agree that the British Ministry is in charge of running things. However, as Harry Potter doesn't know he's king of magical Britain, he can't give it away… which means he remains king even while agreeing the Ministry is in charge of running things. Much like with Sirius becoming CEO of their little corporation, it is understood that he still remains the ultimate authority, even if none of them is consciously aware of it. Were he a more authoritarian person I'm sure someone would have noticed by now, but he's not. He's content to let everyone have authority in their own sphere and take care of things for him so he can focus on other things."

"And yet, if they come up with something he doesn't like, they have to get him to agree before going forward with anything. Dolores Umbridge tried to assert authority over him and she's currently being fast-tracked to Azkaban." Lucretia continued. 

"Merlin bound us up in so much secrecy because he hoped to use the Department's years of study and exploration to truly make himself a god when he finally emerged to conquer. That wouldn't be easy to do if everyone knew what all we had down here."

"We had to be part of the government though, in order to receive funding and attract new talent, which meant he had to allow some things to pass out from the Department, which is why we can offer solutions to certain problems that crop up, but only if we're asked directly by a high enough ranking Ministry official. If Harry is indeed technically the king…"

"And Tom Riddle seems to be a duke of sorts, under his authority…"

"You should be able to answer questions and offer help and solutions to get things moving."

"You'll probably still have to finagle a way to get included in their pinkie oath first. He won't trust you enough to ask questions without it." 

"But he isn't likely to attempt it if he already believes I can't answer any questions and be of any use." Andromeda sighed. 

"Damn it, girl! You were a Slytherin, were you not? Odinson gave you implicit permission to keep an eye on things when he found you investigating the Garden at Hogwarts and neither wiped your memory nor told the children you were doing so." 

"If he's serious about his non-interference, he couldn't really do so. I'm a government representative. In case of catastrophe I need to know what they were doing or trying to do if I'm to have any chance of fixing it. He also knows I'm bound by secrecy."

"He probably also realizes that if we're to have any chance of implementing the program on a wide scale once the children are ready to announce it publicly, some forewarning of what is coming is needed. Now, because of your surveillance, every Department of Mysteries worldwide that was either part of the British Empire, or conquered by Grindlewald now knows that someone finally realized our ever deepening peril and is trying to do something about it. Use that opening to funnel information to them and try to draw their eyes to things they need to think about. In the meantime, the rest of us can work on gathering any stray bits of magic before they end up in muggle hands and working out the logistics of a move so we'll have a fully realized plan to hand over when someone inevitably comes asking how we're meant to do what the children are suggesting."  
"And once on another planet…if we're correct…all the secrecy we're all bound with should disappear as it is no longer valid. We can begin freely releasing some of what we've developed over the centuries and usher in a golden age for wizardkind."

"I just realized. We can never let Harry know what you suspect. Not only would a teenage boy king, who knows that he is, be a disaster… he might not be so keen to leave if he knows he'll just lose it if we leave."

"I agree we shouldn't tell him. Our oaths of secrecy and the contract that binds them are all specific to our location. A magical king is something else altogether. If he successfully leads all of wizardkind off-planet, he may not only retain what kingship he already has, he may simply become de facto king of all wizards. Everyone who agrees to follow his lead, follow his plan, and head out into the unknown in search of a new, better life will be implicitly agreeing to follow him, even if they don't really think about what that means. Better him than someone who wants to rule, I say. Either the Ministries will simply reform on the new world, or something similar to take their place. I highly doubt, even if he knows, that he'll be interested in sitting a throne and issuing orders all day. I do agree we shouldn't let him find out for that very reason. He doesn't wish to rule. He may renounce it, and that would be catastrophic at this point, as it is him being a magical king that will allow us enough unity to actually escape before we're discovered." 

"Not to mention if anyone suspects, he'll have a target on his head once more. He seems much happier without one." Lucretia added dryly.

"That's true, isn't it? Poor kid. He seems destined to be at the center of great events no matter what, doesn't he?"


	7. Spring term

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and friends return to Hogwarts after the holidays, relationship troubles abound.

"The holidays never seem to last long enough." Harry grumbled.

"Well, the school year passes just as swiftly. Before you know it, it will be summer once more. Time on Midgard always seems to pass with alarming swiftness. Why, it seems just a moment ago when you barely reached my knee and you my elbow…"

Loki just laughed when both boys glared at him for his exaggeration.

"…and now look at you. Thomas is nearly as tall as I am. In another year or two you likely will be as well." he added, sounding wistful.

Sigyn glanced at him from the corner of her eye and suppressed a sigh. It always confused her that so many seemed to think him cold and heartless. He had grown quite attached to these children in the short time he'd known them. She was likely to have quite a crisis on her hands in a century or so when they inevitably faded away. She had long suspected that the All-Father had forbidden further contact with Midgard not simply to allow them to develop, but to protect their people from the heartbreak that came from watching treasured companions seemingly wither before one's eyes untimely. Many a warrior had been laid low by grief at watching both a treasured woman and the children she'd bore him fade and die while he himself had remained unchanged. Dealing with mortals was a lesson in grief for long-lived people like themselves. She touched Loki's hand lightly to remind him to collect himself and inserted herself in front of him to give him a moment to do so while she said her own goodbyes. 

"Have a good term at school, children. It was lovely meeting all of you."

"It was nice meeting you too."

"Yes. Goodbye."

"Thank you, Sigyn. It was lovely to meet you as well." Hermione replied. 

"You'd best get on the train. It will be leaving soon." Loki chided, sounding more himself. Sigyn took his hand and squeezed it gently as the three children clambered aboard.

"You're very fond of them."

"Sentiment." Loki said with a bit of self-mockery. "You would think I'd learn." 

 

"Hey, everyone!"

"Hi, Harry, Tom, Hermione. How'd the rest of your holidays go?" Sally Anne Perks said brightly.

"No more attempted arrests, I hope?" Blaise Zabini drawled mockingly.

"We'd have come but we were right in the middle of something." Fred apologized.  
"If we had left it likely would have exploded." George agreed.

"No worries. Plenty of folks came running. Even Snape, if you can believe it."

"Yeah, we saw that in the paper. Who'd have thunk it?" Seamus laughed.

"I just figured he didn't want to be left behind." Hermione shrugged. 

"Yeah, that was my take on things too." Harry nodded.

"Any word on how Remus' special project is going?" Dean wondered.

"No. We only saw him for a bit when they all came to the pub. He said they hadn't really gotten started yet. I guess we'll find out on the sixteenth." Hermione replied.

"Why on the sixteenth?" 

"That's the next full moon." Tom answered. 

"Oh."

"I hope they succeed. Professor Lupin is sweet." Lavender sighed.

"And it would be a boon to werewolves worldwide if they manage it." Cedric Diggory added.

"Not to mention it would effectively defang that bastard Fenrir Greyback." Draco muttered.

"We hope. I mean…the guy is still a cannibal. I mean, he might just turn his attentions from trying to infect people to eating them." Neville said worriedly.

"That won't really work. The aurors won't be afraid to go after him if they know they can be cured if he manages to infect them. That's a big part of why he's still running around." Theo disagreed.

"Say, where's Ron anyway?" Harry wondered.

"He's tied up back in the compartment." Neville answered.

"Who tied him up?" 

"We did." Fred admitted cheerfully.  
"He was working our last nerve all holiday."  
"Not just us either. Mum had to threaten him with no dinner."  
"Ginny hexed him twice." George concluded, laughing.

"Is he still going on about me being a traitor for going to the ball with Viktor?" Hermione demanded.

"He's branched out since then."  
"Yeah, he wasn't too thrilled seeing you two on the front page together."

Harry sighed. "That bloody prat. Hopefully he'll be calmed down by the time we leave here." 

"Well…hope springs eternal and all that."  
"Us? We're not holding our breath." the twins scoffed.

"Say, who was that lady with all of you on the platform?" Cho wanted to know. "I didn’t recognize her."

"That's Loki's wife, Sigyn."

"He's married?!" several members of the group said in shock.

"She was off visiting family and before that she was on some kind of long-term mission… which reminds me that we forgot to ask what she was doing. Oh well, maybe next time." 

"So…you've sort of got a mum now too, huh?"

"Uh, well, technically I guess. I'm not sure how keen she is on the whole thing, to be honest. I think she probably just heard about us for the first time around the same time we heard about her. Then we made the mistake of speculating whether she was Hela, Fenris and Jormungandr's father where she could hear." Harry said sheepishly. 

"Well? Is she?"

"No. Apparently that happened long before they met. Loki got really drunk and did magic. No one's quite certain what happened exactly." Tom explained. The kids just nodded. Stranger things had happened.

"Have they been married long?"  
"How did they meet?" Lavender and Parvati wanted to know.

"Five hundred years…and through the court. He kind of tricked her into marrying him."

"Tricked her? How?" Padma wondered.

"She was at court for the queen to arrange a marriage for her. I guess it was love at first sight for Loki, because she said he kept making excuses to come by and flirt with her, but she wouldn't give him the time of day because she'd been betrothed to one of the king's personal guards by that point. She said her fiancé didn't pay much attention to her, he always seemed to be out with the guys drinking when he wasn't on duty, but then he started courting her properly. He brought flowers, took her on picnics, long walks, the whole nine yards. Finally her wedding day came and she was actually happy to be marrying the guy, but then once the vows were all said and the wedding was sealed, the groom turned into Loki. His father was furious and offered to annul marriage, and the warriors were up in arms that Loki had "stolen" their fellow warrior's bride and a riot nearly broke out. She decided to stay married, much to everyone's confusion and horror-- but then no one else realized what she had; it had been Loki she'd been on all the romantic dates with. The guy she'd actually been engaged to had never really paid her any mind. She was named Goddess of Fidelity for choosing to stay married. She said they had to flee before an enraged mob and stayed on Vanaheim for a few years till everyone calmed down." 

A lot of groans and laughter sounded as the story was told. 

"I don't know… it's sort of romantic, isn't it? In a weird way, but it is." Cho commented.

"I thought so." Hermione offered. "I mean, yes, it's a rather unconventional beginning to a marriage, but he took a big chance when he revealed himself. She could have agreed to have the marriage annulled and he would have been a laughingstock, and it would have left him rather at odds with his family and the warriors. He took a leap of faith and it paid off for him. So did she, actually. For all she knew, it had been her fiancé she'd been on all those dates with and Loki had just snuck in to trick her." 

"It wasn't, right?"

"No. It was Loki. She said Theoric, the guy she was engaged to, eventually married. She said he doesn't pay his wife any more mind than he did her when they were engaged. She said he seems to go home every so often, stays long enough to get her pregnant and then spends the rest of his time with the other warriors drinking and carousing."

"Sounds like she made the right choice then." 

"She seems to think so. I got the impression the folks of the court are still sore about the whole thing though, and still wonder to this day what on earth she wants with him."

"Weird people on Asgard." Pansy said with some disbelief.

"I'll say. Theoric sounds like a creep." Daphne agreed, wrinkling her nose.

"Seriously. What's wrong with those people?"

"They're a society of warriors. Magic is considered 'woman's work' and it's kind of looked down on." Hermione sniffed angrily.

"Bloody muggles." Draco sneered.

"Well, anyway, enough of that. Is everyone else here?" Harry took a quick look around. "Looks like it."

"Yeah, everyone's here." 

"Wards?"

"Already up." 

"Alrighty then. For the coming term, Vince, Greg, Cedric, you'll have something new to look at while you try to formulate a programming language. Lee, Kendall, Bernard, you'll probably be interested in this as well."

"Yeah? What's that?" Cedric asked in interest.

"Lucius had a meeting with the ministry a couple of days ago about them buying some of our PDAs and servers. It turns out they've already got a system to do data mining for them and they've had it for centuries. It's a bunch of brains and a bunch of portraits that are linked together somehow. The Department of Mysteries developed it centuries ago and it's now in the public domain because someone actually asked them about it and got it released from their secrecy. He's getting the specs for it. I don't know what kind of use you'll be able to make of it or how successful we'll be at linking the two together, but it's worth looking into."

"Huh. Yeah, that could be useful." Lee agreed.

"We really should have thought of making an in-depth study of portraits. They're much more complex than the action figures are, and are already interactive…" Cedric nodded. 

"In other news, the corporate office has tweaked the train scheduling system, and they think they've got the bugs worked out. We'll be running tests again, so we need volunteers."

"Ah, geez." Blaise huffed.

"It needs doing, and no one's ever usually stuck there more than an hour or so at a time." Theo chided.

"It should be a bit easier this time around. We'll have one station, another will be at Grimmauld Place, one at Malfoy Manor, one at the old Crouch place, and one will be going to the Tonks' place. The elves are supposed to be helping out with the tests, so be prepared for that. We'll only be watching over the one here, so that should make scheduling easier." 

"Oh, alright then." 

"In other news, Hermione and I upgraded all the scanners over the holiday. We took new scans of the universal translators and realized we got a lot more back. With that in mind, I think it might be worthwhile to go back and re-scan a space ship and the wormhole thing. Maybe we can up our progress on that front." 

"Give us a bit to make a new spiffy server first. We've been working on a new model based on some stuff from the SHIELD academy. If we get it to work right it should be faster and have a lot more storage space."

"Good to know. Just scan the stuff whenever you're ready then and we'll see what we get back. Biospheres folks, the vertical farms are being built at headquarters as we speak. They should be ready in time for spring planting. When it gets closer to the time, Sirius is supposed to be sending a cabinet one weekend so you lot can help get everything planted and what have you." 

"Oh, good. We've been stockpiling seeds." Neville nodded.

"Practically anything you can think of." Hannah agreed cheerfully.

"We should have a good harvest year-round once everything gets underway." Susan added.

"We've got schedules all worked out to maximize the space we've got." Justin concluded.

"Glad to hear it. When you're all not busy with that, Hermione is supposed to be designing a space station. She'll need input from everyone. I was thinking once the giant space simulator at headquarters was done we could try to build it and use it for experiments. Make sure the vertical farms work correctly in space, and the animal folks can try out different containment schemes to see what will work best for long-term transport. We'll get some mice or hamsters or bunnies or something…"

"Bugs and microbes too. That will probably be what needs to go down first, when we eventually get around to trying to terraform someplace." Millicent interjected.

"Even better. I'll let you all work that out. Art department, enchanters, you'll obviously be involved as well. Let's try to use space-saving designs, like on a muggle ship, so we can maximize whatever space we have on the thing. Oh! We should maybe try to design some removable rooms like there are at Grimmauld place so we can have it be multifunctional… we can also test whether plants and animals will thrive in spaces like that while out in space." 

"What are you going to be doing?"

"Well, I'm going to continue to help out on the universal translator…and I'll also be making basic armor for everyone. Everyone will need to come see me at some point to get measurements taken. If we can get everything to work right, by summer, I hope to have everyone in an extreme-environment suit with armor that can appear at will like my and Tom's armor does. That's the plan, anyway." 

An excited babble went through the crowd .

"And finally, we'll be doing a probe launch in a few weeks. Barty is supposed to let us know when."

"A probe? What kind of probe?"

"They're just going to whip up something that we can try portkeying to the moon. It's supposed to have some sensors on it to give us temperature readings and speed readings, and we should be able to retrieve it once it lands. That's the theory anyway. They're going to launch it from the space simulator and we'll watch from the galaxy in a globe so we can see it land safely." 

Another giddy stir went through the group at the news. It was finally beginning to feel like they were making progress.

 

Ron was rather subdued when they all returned to the compartment for the remainder of the trip. He and Hermione managed not to fight the whole way; they avoided the subject of the ball by talking about work, speculating on whether or not Remus' curse would be cured and griping about the holiday homework. The trip passed quite pleasantly, in fact, right up until they entered Hogwarts and saw Viktor waiting near the stairs. 

Ron's face began to slowly suffuse with color, and he seemed moments away from unleashing another tirade. Harry indicated Viktor with his head, giving Hermione a nudge to go say hello, while he and Neville each gripped one of Ron's arms and marched him off to the table.   
Ron turned to both of them with a snarl on his face, but they just glared at him till he subsided.

"You are not making a scene in the great hall in front of all the foreign students." Neville muttered under his breath.

When they sat down at the table, Harry noted Fleur was "casually" standing near the end of the Ravenclaw table--obviously waiting for Tom, though she'd taken pains to not let it look like that was the case. Tom looked like he was having a bit of trouble maintaining his usual cool, though he was making a good effort at appearing unaffected. Harry didn't know why they bothered. They were still standing too close together and staring at each other intently enough, it was obvious they were oblivious to the fact that pretty much the whole great hall was watching them. 

Harry glanced up at Dumbledore and found him watching as well, looking slightly worried and somewhat bemused. He and Tom both realized Dumbledore knew very well Tom had indeed been Voldemort, and so continued to be wary of his presence at Hogwarts and in the world. It was equally obvious that he, much like Harry, had eventually realized that Tom and Voldemort were two different people, even if they'd been the same person. 

Fleur was a good case in point. Voldemort had been contemptuous of 'human weaknesses' like love. Tom seemed pretty okay with the whole idea all of a sudden.   
Harry had complained to Loki about it over the holiday. Loki had told him to look at it as 'gaining a sister, not losing a brother'. He'd tried that and it really didn't help. No one seemed to be too sympathetic though. 

Viktor and Hermione came in as Dumbledore rose to make the usual start of term announcements and hurried to their seats. Viktor was strutting just a bit. Hermione was pink cheeked and a sporting a small, giddy smile. Ron glared at the table so fiercely Harry was honestly surprised it didn't burst into flames. He and Neville traded a despairing look. 

When the food arrived, Ron focused on filling his plate and started eating with rather grim determination. The rest of them relaxed, hoping he'd keep his head, but it was not to be. About halfway through dinner he began making snippy comments. Hermione tried to ignore it at first, but when he just kept going she began losing her temper and started sniping back at him. As their exchange grew more heated, Neville pushed aside the rest of his dinner; he got an upset stomach when people argued at the table, and couldn't finish. 

He and Neville both dug out their PDAs when they jiggled, indicating a message had just come in. They looked at each other after reading it, then glanced at Seamus and nodded. They were in. This nonsense had to stop.

Hermione was practically in tears by the time everyone headed up to the common room. She stormed up to her dorm the moment they arrived, and most of the girls went with her, all of them casting sour looks Ron's way as they did so. Ron didn't notice as he was too wrapped up in his own bad mood. Harry and the other boys of their dorm traded a look and Seamus raised an eyebrow. All four were still in agreement, and so headed upstairs to get ready. When Ron stomped up there a few minutes later, he was greeted by all his roommates beating him with their pillows until he fell down and curled up in a little ball to protect himself. They continued on until he stopped shouting and demanding they stop. When he uncurled, he glared at all of them, face red enough to match his hair.

"What the bloody…!"

"Just laying down the law. We've had enough." Seamus growled.

"Of what?!"

"You. I don't care if you're mad or jealous or what have you. I just don't."

"None of us do." Dean agreed.

"We've had it. We want to eat our dinner in peace." Neville added.

"Our lunch and breakfast too." Harry nodded.

"If you can't say something nice to Hermione, you're not allowed to speak to her at all" Seamus concluded.

"What the…"

"RON." Harry snarled.

When Ron snapped his mouth shut and glowered at all of them sullenly, Seamus continued. 

"It stops now. You've got no right. You dated Lavender and ruined it because you were obsessing over Hermione, but then you didn't do anything even when she dumped ol' Goldstein. You two weren't dating, you keep insisting you don't like her like that, so enough. You don't have any cause to be flipping out about her thing with Krum."

"He's the enemy!"

"He's a bloke that goes to a different school. This isn't a war, it's just a school tournament." Dean sighed.

"Yeah. Geez. Tom's competing against him, but even he doesn't think he's the 'enemy'. He went to the ball with Fleur, so obviously he doesn't see her as an enemy either. Get over yourself." Harry scoffed.

"He's a dark wizard!"

"He hates dark wizards. Grindlewald killed his grandfather." Neville sighed.

"That doesn't even make any sense! They teach the dark arts at Durmstrang!"

"It's an elective. You have to pass a screening before you're allowed to take any of the classes." Harry informed him.

"But…"

"No, Ron, stop. You're just making excuses. You're behaving badly, treating a girl who's supposed to be your friend like crap. Shape up or start taking your meals in the kitchen till you get over yourself." Seamus insisted.

"Yeah, Ron. If you wanted Hermione so bad, you should have snatched her up when you had a chance." Dean added.

"I keep telling you, it's not…"

"So you're actually pissed at Hermione for stealing Krum before you could cozy up to him, is that it?" Harry wondered.

"WHAT? NO!" 

"Exactly. Enough already. Hermione's with Krum. Unlike you, he got up the balls to tell her he was interested. You didn't, now you just have to deal." Seamus said firmly.

"It's not…I'm not…"

The boys sighed and began beating him with their pillows again.

 

The first week back was a trial for everyone. On top of the usual adjustment to being back at school and in classes all day, Ron had taken the other boys' words to heart and stopped talking to Hermione altogether. Sadly, this didn't seem to make her any happier than having him sniping at her did. As a result, everyone was still left stuck in the middle of their drama, which pleased no one. 

It was something of a relief when the weekend came. Everyone could focus on their projects and leave their weird relationship problems at the door. 

"How are the trains going?" Harry asked when he arrived for his shift. 

"So far so good…but then, they ran fine for several weeks before we had a problem last time." Terrance reminded him.

"Yeah. Hopefully that won't be the case this time. Any degradation of the landing sites now that they're coming from further away?"

"None so far. They've not deviated an inch. There's an alarm that will sound when it arrives if they do. You ready to take over? I've got merchandise to help make. The second task is in only a few weeks away." 

"Yeah, I've got it." 

Terrance handed him the clipboard with the schedule and the questionnaire and left. Harry checked the schedule and the time and sat back to wait. He was rewarded five minutes later by the arrival of a tiny train in the center of the "station", which was really just a box with no lid so they could see inside. It was bright green and said "the Crouch Express" down the side. Harry snickered, checked off the boxes indicating it had arrived on time, hadn't deviated from the designated arrival spot and had left on time. 

Four more trains arrived and left during his watch-- a sleek white train that said "Malfoy Explorer", a red one called the "Marauder" and a silver one that said "test train number five"-- Andromeda obviously hadn't thought to gussy hers up. The last train "The Explorer Express", which was black and had a rainbow swoosh down the side consisting of all the Hogwarts colors arrived just as Pansy showed up to take over watching.

"Any problems?"

"None so far."

"Good. I really want this thing up and running this summer. I despise taking international portkeys." she said grimly as she seated herself.

"Yeah, that seems to be the consensus." Harry laughed as he headed for his workroom. Sure enough the first few members were there to have measurements taken for their armor.   
Neville was up first.

"This is sort of exciting. I've never had armor before." 

"Well, I hope it lives up to your expectations."

"Wow, it's hot in here." 

"That would be that." Harry gestured as he headed over to the pile of metal sheets that were laid out and waiting. Neville peeked in and saw a large vat of molten metal.

"Uh…"

"Geez, I'm not going to pour molten metal on you. I'll be pouring out more into flat sheets to work with after I use up what I've already got laid out."

"Oh. Okay."

"Alright, stand here." 

He had decided, after some thought, that the easiest way to make armor for everyone was to just form and shape it right on their bodies. It was a bit touch and go at first, but he soon got in the swing of things and watched in satisfaction as the armor began to take shape. A solid plate with a bit of give to protect the back and chest. Shoulder pieces, a bit on the forearms and the shins, a bit hanging down to protect the groin. When he was done he had Neville move around in it and made adjustments until they both were satisfied. 

"Alrighty then. Now you take it to the enchanters to get it made lighter, unbreakable and have some cushioning charms put on the inside to help disperse force and keep it from chafing. Then, go see Tom for your extreme environment suit. I'll let you know when it's time to come back to get it charmed up to appear at will."

"Okay. Cool." 

Neville left with a smile on his face and a big pile of armor in his arms. Luna came bouncing in next. As requested, she was in her workout clothes, not a dress or a robe, and had her waist length hair pinned up in a braided crown around her head.

"Alright, stand here." 

 

"What are all of you doing?" Hermione asked as she returned from her daily hour of watching the SHIELD academy. 

"What's it look like? We're charming up armor."

"Are these done?"

"Yeah. Just don't get the pieces mixed up. We've got them in separate piles for a reason." 

Hermione blinked in surprise when she lifted the breastplate. "It's so light!"

"Well, yeah. That stuff was heavy before we charmed it. I mean, yeah, it would have given us a bit of a workout trying to run around in all of it, but no thanks." Theo scoffed.

The next set of armor in the row was obviously a girl's set. There was a bit of a curve to the breastplate, and it had more pieces hanging down, forming a skirt of sorts that looked like it would hang at least partway to the knee. 

"It seems like it would be very uncomfortable… cushioning charms?"

"Disperses force, keeps it from chafing." Draco nodded. 

"Huh." She set the armor back in its pile and looked around.

"Have any of you seen Dean? He was supposed to sit with me and make some preliminary sketches of the space station based on what I've gathered so far, but I can't find him anywhere." 

"You're looking for Dean?" Seamus asked, peeking his head in to the enchanter's workroom. "You won't find him. His girlfriend had a temper tantrum earlier when he tried to leave. You might see him later if he can manage to slip away." 

"Ugh! How am I supposed to get this project underway?"

"Hex Ginny?" Seamus offered cheerfully.

"That wasn't at all hostile." Hermione said wryly. "Not to mention I don't think it would help much." 

Seamus shrugged. "She thinks any time he's not in class or sleeping should be spent with her." he explained. "It's getting old. She's not the only person in his life." 

"I'm sorry."

"Not your problem. Anyway, I've gotta go. It's my turn on train duty."

 

Hermione said goodbye and continued on her way, somewhat at a loss since Dean wasn't around. That's when she spotted Luna. She was splattered with paint, as she so often seemed to be, and was hard at work on yet another mural. 

_"That's right. She's part of the art department too."_

"Luna? Are you busy?"

"Hmm? Not particularly. I need to let what I've done dry a bit before I continue. How's it look?"

Hermione studied the image. On it were nine women, the centermost a bit higher than the rest, with a galaxy centered between her upraised arms and a starry background behind her. On the one side the four women held a flute, a tragedy mask, a comedy mask and the last seemed about to start dancing. The four to the other side were sketched in, but hadn't yet been filled out or differentiated.

"The muses?" she guessed.

"Yep. I think I'll do Calliope next. What do you think of my giving her armor and a bloodstained sword?"

"Wh… NO. She's not a warrior, she's the muse of epic poetry! Epics are about the great deeds of gods and men…they're supposed to inspire and uplift the listener, and teach them the ways of honorable life! The pen…or I suppose quill… is mightier than the sword. You demean her by making her a mere warrior!" 

"You feel very strongly about this."

"Well, yes. I do."

"No armor then?"

"Well… I suppose the armor would be fine. It couldn't hurt to protect one's self while in the midst of a battle, which I suppose she'd have to be in order to get a proper recounting of things. It would differentiate her from the others. No swords though. No blood either." 

Luna just nodded. "I'll take that into consideration."

"See that you do." Hermione nodded as well, and then started to march off.

"Did you need something?" Luna asked before she'd gotten very far.

"Oh. Right. I was hoping you could help me by sketching some designs for the space station."

"I thought Dean was doing that?"

"Ginny thought otherwise."

"Ah. In that case, I'd be happy to help." 

She flicked her wand and sealed up her paints, and flicked it again to clean herself, before leading Hermione back to the art department's workroom.

"OH! We should make it look like a coral reef!"

"It's a space station!"

"Our mining ships look like squid." 

"But…"

"Hermione. We're not muggles. We don't have to limit ourselves the way they do. I think a coral reef in space would be pretty." 

Hermione sighed. "Sure. Fine. Why not. Coral reef space station. I suppose the ships we make for ourselves are going to look like fish?"

"Fish, crabs, clams…sure, why not? No offense to the muggles, but their space stuff tends to be kind of cold and sterile looking. Ours will be much more fun! And colorful. All the white gets boring after a while, don't you think?"

Getting excited about the project now, she grabbed Hermione by the hand and drug her along. 

 

"Hey. What are you up to?" Harry asked Tom as he wandered into his workroom. He'd made a dozen sets of armor before running out of ready material. The enchanters were still busy charming up what he'd already made. The next bunch was just going to have to wait till next weekend. 

Harry's eyes narrowed suspiciously when Tom tried to act casual and pushed some papers around on his table to make it look like he'd been busy. He'd probably been mooning over Fleur again.

"I did a few tweaks on the translator in between people coming in to be fitted for their suits… have you seen some of the colors they picked?"

"Yeah. We're going to be a colorful bunch."

"I heard several of the girls talking and they're all planning on getting shades of pink!"

"Yeah. Pansy and Parvati."

"Pink! That's no color for a warrior in armor!"

"I dunno. Hermione told me once that pink used to be considered a warm, robust color suitable for boys up until Hitler used pink to denote gays, then it was suddenly a hated color everywhere and got given to girls, where blue, which used to be considered too calm and cold for boys, was suddenly their color of choice. Plus, have you ever seen how vicious some of the little girls running around in pink ruffles and lace are? They're bloody dangerous. Kick you in the 'nads and take a bite out of your arm with a smile on their faces." Harry disagreed.

"You know some…interesting little girls. In any case the translator is ready for another test run."

"Good. Hopefully we'll get somewhere with it this time. It think we were already getting close. Last time out Luna and Colin said they felt like they could almost understand what was being said."

Tom nodded and then continued fidgeting with the stuff on the table.  
"Did you see that next weekend is Hogsmeade weekend?"

"Yeah? Weird that it's so close to the start of term, but whatever. Probably because the second task is next month… What of it?"

"Ah, well… I kind of asked Fleur to go with me. Neither of us wanted her little sister underfoot, so I volunteered you to look after her for the day." 

"Is she allowed to go to Hogsmeade or did you volunteer me to be stuck in the castle all weekend?"

"She's allowed." 

Harry threw up his hands disgustedly. "I don't believe you! You could have at least asked before making promises. What if I'd had plans?"

"Did you?"

"No, but that’s not the point. The point is I could have. Don't ever pull this crap on me again. Got it?" 

"It's just one day. It's not such a big deal, is it?"

"Says the guy pimping me out because he didn't want her underfoot."

"So will you do it?"

"Yeah, fine. I'll do it, but you owe me." 

 

_"…I'm going with Viktor. It should be nice. I had fun at the ball with him…."_

Ron froze as he passed by the door to the art department and scowled. Moments later his scowl faded as he pictured Hermione and Viktor looking at him with pity while he stood all alone in Hogsmeade. It was too horrible to contemplate. He needed a date and fast.

Who though? The Patil twins were out, so was Lavender for obvious reasons…Hannah too. Maybe one of the other Hufflepuff girls would go with him? Well, he'd never know unless he asked. He spotted Sally-Anne Perks up ahead and smoothed down his hair before approaching.

 

"Hey guys." Dean greeted as he sauntered in.

"Look who decided to show up." Seamus muttered irritably.

Dean shrugged uncomfortably. "Well…you know what she's like." 

Seamus just glared at him and stalked off. Dean looked for a moment like he would follow him, but instead he just sighed, rubbed his face tiredly and asked if anyone had seen Hermione.

"I was supposed to be sketching stuff for her today."

"I think she's in the art room with Luna. She got her to do it since you weren't around." Draco explained.

Dean frowned and headed for the art room. 

Seamus, who by now was in the training room, watched the door to see if his so-called best friend had followed him, but the doorway remained empty. Now in a worse mood than before, he called out to the others that were there.

"You got room for one more?"

"Sure. You can be on Terry's team. We were just about to start again."

"What's the objective?"

"Whole team and flag gets to the opposite side wins. If you lose team members, whoever has the most at the end and gets their flag across wins."

"Let's do this." Seamus agreed. 

 

"So? Wanna go with me?" Ron finished what was by now an all too familiar spiel.

"No. First of all, I'm not getting in the middle of all that. Second of all, No girl in her right mind is going to accept when everyone knows you're hung up on Hermione. It's, well, kind of pointless. Not that I even like you like that, but well, it's just setting myself up for disappointment…not to mention a bad time. Lavender told everyone how you treated her, you know. I hear enough of your moaning and whining about all this just in the Garden. Why on earth would I ruin Hogsmeade for myself to get stuck listening to it some more?" Susan Bones growled at Ron irritably. "Besides, I've already got a date. I'm going with Greg."

_"Goyle?!"_

"Yes. What's wrong with that? His family runs a security troll business, my aunt is head of law enforcement. We have lots in common." Susan said, daring him to object further.

Ron grumbled and went to find Harry.

"Hey, Ron. What's with you?"

"You don't have a date for Hogsmeade, right?"

"Uh… Look, Ron, I'm…flattered, really, but I just don't think of you that way, and wow, it would be awkward and all…"

"Huh? No, not that, you prat. I was just going to say that it looks like it's you and me for Hogsmeade. I got turned down by everyone."

"Ah, sorry, but I'm going to be hanging out with Gabrielle Delacour."

"Uh…she might be thirteen mate, but she still looks like she's eight and…"

"Not like that, you freak. Tom's taking Fleur to Hogsmeade. She was hesitant to accept because she wasn't sure what to do with her little sister, so he volunteered me to look after her. He still owes me for that, but oh well. She seems like a nice enough little girl. It's not like it'll be a hardship."

"Great. Where does that leave me?" Ron sighed, before wandering off again. 

He spotted Luna on his way and slowed to watch her a moment. She was working on yet another mural. She was barefoot and wearing a long smock to cover her clothing. It, and her hair were spotted with paint, not that she seemed to either notice or care. He still thought she was weird… but at the same time thought people could do way worse than using her as a role model. She didn't care what other people thought of her or her interests. She was one of the calmest and most untroubled people he ever met.   
Still weird though…

That's when it occurred to him that he'd asked almost everyone to go to Hogsmeade with him. He hadn't asked Bulstrode or Parkinson, because well, he both wasn't going there, and they already had dates with Crabbe and Malfoy respectively. He didn't bother asking either of the Patil twins as they weren't allowed to date until they were older. He hadn't asked Luna either, because honestly her name hadn't even occurred to him. He shrugged philosophically and ambled towards her. It couldn't hurt, right?

"Hey, Luna."

Luna turned towards him, her gaze dreamy, then blinked once and her gaze seemed to sharpen.

"Hello Ronald." 

"Say, you want to go to Hogsmeade with me?"

Luna cocked her head to the side in puzzlement.

"You're asking me on a date?"

"Uh, yeah. I guess."

She continued to stare at him, and he fought the urge to fidget uncomfortably. He felt like she was x-raying his soul.

"If I do agree, I have some conditions." 

"What?!"

"Take it or leave it."

"Fine. What are they?"

"You cannot talk about or moon over either Hermione or Viktor at all from the moment we leave the castle until we return there in the evening. You will put them out of your mind completely."

Ron sighed and nodded. "Fine, yeah. I can do that."

"Good. The second condition is that if I want you to do something you'll do it without complaint and without looking around to see who's watching."

"What? What kind of things? That's crazy."

"It's for your benefit. You worry too much about what other people think of you, and it keeps you from enjoying life as much as you could. Promise me."

He was ready to shout at her for her nonsense, but an image of Hermione hanging on Viktor Krum's arm looking at him with pity and disdain filled his head and he grit his teeth.

"Fine. You'd better not ask me to do anything weird though or I'm out of there."

"Try to give it a chance before stomping off."

"Fine."

"And if you go back on your word, I'm leaving. I feel it only fair to warn you. I have better things to do with my time." Luna nodded in turn. "I'll see you next weekend then. Now, if you don't mind, I’m busy." 

Ron grimaced at her a bit--she was a lot different than Lavender, who'd he'd practically had to chase off--but he left nonetheless. When he went back to find Harry, he found him standing on a chair, addressing the rest of the Garden.

"…and I would hope you would smack anyone who thinks otherwise. In fact, Fred, George, smack Ron for me, would you?"

"OW!" Ron howled as the twins each clipped him in the back of the head. "What the hell?! What was that for?!"

"For thinking Harry's a pervert that likes little girls, that's what."  
"Yeah. Obviously Tommy boy wants to canoodle with Fleur in peace"  
"Without her little sis getting in the way"  
"And to think otherwise, well, it says nothing good about you."

"Thank you." Harry agreed. "This public service announcement is at an end. Please return to your regularly scheduled activities." 

As the crowd dispersed, Ron stomped up to Harry, glowering. "Geez, mate, you didn't have to get them to hit me!"

"Geez, mate, you didn't have to accuse me of being a pervert." Harry quipped back. 

Sometimes Ron thought he liked Harry better before he got rescued from his muggles. He decided to let it go. These days Harry wasn't so easy to get away with things from. 

"So, I got a date for next weekend." he said instead.

"You did? With who?"

"Luna Lovegood. She's weird, yeah, but, I guess she's sort of cool. Cute even." he trailed off when he realized Harry was glaring at him. "What?" he asked nervously.

"All I have to say, mate, is that she better not come home crying like Lavender did." Harry replied, his voice mild--though his expression promised a slow and painful death.

"No worries." Ron laughed nervously. "She'll have the time of her life." 

"She'd better."

Harry wandered off to do whatever it was Harry did these days, and Ron slumped in place, and wiped his clammy palms on his trousers.   
Yeah, he definitely liked pre-rescue Harry better…he wasn't so scary then. Well…unless he thought Voldemort was on the move and endangering Hogwarts; he was pretty scary then.   
Alright, so he'd always been scary, he just had more things to be scary about these days. Damn.

 

"That was some nice shooting." 

Seamus glanced up at Terry Boot and grinned.

"Yeah? Thanks. I've been practicing."

"I can tell." 

Seamus grinned again and dug out some clean clothes. He'd had to shower after their session in the training room; he'd fallen in the swamp at one point, though happily he'd managed to keep his bow and arrows clear when he did and had managed to take out a member of the opposite team. They had charmed up the arrows to stick to whoever they hit so they couldn't lie and say they hadn't been.

Terry got flustered and turned his back to him when he shucked his towel to start getting dressed. He found himself glancing over at him curiously as he got his clothes on, wondering why he was still lurking around. Everyone else had already left, and Terry himself was dressed.   
Terry turned back around once he was clothed and busy putting his shoes on.

"Did you need something?"

"Oh…um…well you see…"

"Just spit it out, mate."

"DoyouwanttogotoHogsmeadewithme?"

Seamus blinked, not sure he'd heard right.

"Uh, come again?"

Terry's face began growing red, and he glanced at the door to the locker room for a moment as though wishing to escape.

"I was wondering if…you wanted to go to Hogsmeade…with me."

"Um…like a date?"

Terry nodded once, jerkily, and seemed to be looking everywhere but at him. 

Seamus was silent just long enough that Terry cringed slightly and began making apologies.

"Sorry…I seem to have mis… Sorry."

"NO! Wait. Sorry. You just kind of caught me by surprise." Seamus objected, holding out an arm to stop him, though he dropped it before he could run into it. This was uncharted territory here. Touching of any sort seemed a bit premature.

Terry steeled himself and looked him full in the face. Seamus rubbed the back of his neck and fidgeted. 

"You caught me by surprise. My dad's a muggle. I grew up in the muggle world and…"

"I've heard other people say that. Is it really that bad?"

"Not everywhere, not all the time. But, yeah, it's not really accepted, which makes admitting it kind of…" Seamus gestured helplessly and frowned. "My dad's been kind of giving me the hairy eyeball lately." 

"I get it. You don't have to explain. Sorry about this. I just thought…"

Seamus took a deep breath and let it out, and wiped his sweaty palms on his trousers.

"I didn't say no." he said quietly. "Just…you know…try not to be offended if I have a panic attack at some point." 

 

 

"Is it just me, or has Professor Lupin been kind of weird all week?" Lavender asked Friday morning at breakfast.

"Dumbledore's been plying him with potions all week to get him to relax and not fall apart." Harry explained quietly. 

"The full moon's tonight, isn't it?" Dean realized.

"Yep. You know, I thought Hogsmeade was so early this time because of the task. Now I'm beginning to wonder if it's because of Remus. Whether he's cured or not, he's probably going to be mostly useless all weekend." 

"Yeah. Poor guy. I hope they cured him." Neville fretted.

"Me too. If this doesn't work, he might not be willing to try again for fear of getting his hopes up."

"Snape and Dumbledore both seem pretty confident." Hermione pointed out.

"Yeah. I hope that's a good sign." Seamus agreed.

"So do we all. At least he won't be alone tonight, and of course Dumbledore and Snape will be waiting to see if it worked as well. Sirius is going to come by after classes are over and sit with him. He's been counting down the days. I think he's more excited than Remus is." 

The bell rang, signaling the start of another day of classes. The kids groaned and set off from the table.

 

The students not in the Garden noted the strange tension in the air all day, but were at a loss as to its cause. Remus was haggard, though still calm due to the potions, by the time his last class of the day let out. He disappeared soon after. 

"Ugh. I can't stand the waiting. When is moonrise?" Lavender wondered as they headed into dinner.

Ron pointed to the ceiling in the great hall, where a full moon could be seen shining down on them. 

"So…they must know already! When are they going to tell the rest of us?" 

"Dumbledore seems too cheerful for it to have failed."

"Is that a PDA?" Parvati asked. 

"Where?"

"There, next to Dumbledore's hand."

"You know, I think it is." 

"So they do know already. I guess they'll make an announcement at some point." 

Everyone settled at the table and began filling their plates. They had only just started eating, when the doors of the great hall slammed open and a madly grinning Sirius Black strutted in, streamers and confetti shooting from his wand. Remus stumbled along behind him. He looked dazed, and his eyes were swollen and red-rimmed as though he'd been sobbing earlier, but his smile stretched from ear to ear.

The Garden kids rose to their feet as one and began cheering.

"YOU GO, REMUS!"  
"WHOOP!"  
"CONGRATULATIONS, PROFESSOR!"  
"FOR HE'S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW, FOR HE'S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW….!" 

Dumbledore waited till the singing ended and rose to his feet, smile on his face and eyes twinkling like stars.

"For those of you not in the know, I have exciting news. Myself and Professor Snape have successfully cured a werewolf. Lycanthropy is now a thing of the past!" 

A confused babble broke out among the students.

"Sirius Black was a werewolf?"  
"No, stupid. Professor Lupin."   
"When did that happen?"  
"When he was four."  
"We've had a werewolf teaching us all this time?! We could have been killed!"  
"Geez, bigot. He was taking wolfsbane potion. Besides, he's cured now, so it's kind of a moot point." 

Dumbledore ignored the babble and set about decorating the hall, and putting up a big banner that said "Congratulations Remus" across the back wall. 

Dinner turned into quite the merry party from that point, and lasted well into the night.

 

 

Ron studied himself in the mirror and patted down his hair, and then after thinking about it a bit, splashed himself liberally with cologne. It was a date; he probably should make the effort. Luna was already down in the entry hall waiting, as were Tom and Fleur Delacour, who was fussing over Gabrielle. Gabrielle in turn was hanging off Harry's arm quite cheerfully and trying to fend off her sister's concern. Luna was just watching everyone with abstracted fondness and looking around curiously. 

Ron moved to join them and offered Luna his arm after Harry gave him a _look_. Right. He needed to be on his best behavior, it seemed. 

Luna took his arm, smiled, and drug him to the door so they could go. 

"I've never been on a date before. I'm quite looking forward to it." 

"Yeah, uh, it'll be swell." 

Ron looked over the crowd and spotted Viktor and Hermione ahead of them. Luna sighed. 

"As we're still in the castle, I won't say anything, but the moment we leave, I expect you to remember your promise."

Ron just nodded as he wasn't sure he could really say anything meaningful at the moment. 

In a desperate bid to do as Luna asked, he started looking around at the crowd.   
Millicent Bulstrode was there with Vincent Crabbe, though she was chatting with Susan Bones who was there with Goyle. Goyle looked fairly dazed and kept glancing at Susan like he was half-afraid she was going to disappear if he looked away too long. 

A little further back the Patil twins and Lavender were standing together and chatting. Lav had kind of slipped off the dating scene after how badly their dates had gone. The last few Hogsmeade weekends she'd just hung out with her friends and seemed to be having a good time. 

Malfoy, Parkinson, Daphne Greengrass and Blaise Zabini came sauntering up together from the dungeons, with Theo Nott and Olivia Moon following a little ways behind. Anthony Goldstein, Hermione's almost-boyfriend, seemed to be hanging out with Su Li these days. 

Seamus Finnegan was with Terry Boot of Ravenclaw. He stared at the two of them a moment before continuing on. A short distance from Seamus and Terry stood Dean and Ginny. He glared at his little sister, who was once again wrapped around Dean like an octopus. He did his best to ignore it; when he'd complained about it to mum over the holidays, he'd gotten in trouble and Ginny had just laughed at him. 

Dean seemed to be ignoring Ginny as well. He kept staring at Seamus and Terry, looking away, and then turning back to stare at them again.

It was finally their turn to leave. McGonagall raised her eyebrows and sighed a bit when she saw the two of them together, but she checked their names off the list and they were free. 

"So…uh, what do you want to do first when we get there?"

"I don't like making detailed plans. I say we just wander around and experience Hogsmeade. I think that's the best way to go about things. When you make too many detailed plans, you don't leave room for the universe to have its say about things, and I do try my best not to be rude."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. H… a person I know likes to schedule every last minute of their time for study and all. I can't live like that. I like to take things as they come."

"Exactly. I find things are more interesting that way."

"Yeah. H… that person I know never could understand that." 

Luna nodded. "I won't say anything about that either since you caught yourself, but you have to do better from here on out. There isn't room enough for four people on our date." 

"Yeah, I know. Sorry." 

"You are forgiven. Now, onward to adventure!"

"Tally ho!" Ron cheered, trying to get into the spirit of things. He was rewarded by Luna's bright smile. He relaxed a bit. Maybe this would turn out better than he'd thought.

 

"I like zhese. What are they called?" Gabrielle asked curiously.

"Those are fizzy jiggles, I think. I didn't like how they made my mouth feel." Harry replied.

"Zhat is de best part. Eet tickles."

"Well, to each their own, I guess. Are you warm enough now?"

"Oh yes. Ze hat is very nice. Fleur will be so jealous!" 

Harry bit his lip and tried not to laugh. Gabrielle was a charming little brat, really. She was cute and knew it and had no problem batting her eyes and playing helpless to try to get stuff. It was very effective as well, as her bag of candy and dashing new hat and gloves attested. 

Oh well, he was hardly going to let a little girl freeze to death. All the Beauxbatons students had done their best to update their wardrobes when not in uniform so as to better to deal with the cold, but even with that they still had trouble with it. It wasn't too surprising; Beauxbatons was located on the Mediterranean; nothing there had ever prepared them for a Scottish winter. 

"So, what do you want to do next? We could get something to eat if you like. The Three Broomsticks usually has pretty good food. If you don't want to go there, there's a little café a bit further in, though you can't always get in there as they don't have a lot of seating."

"Can we look at ze café first? We can always go elsewhere if eet is too crowded."

"As you wish… uh. Hang on a sec." 

"What iz going on? I cannot see over zher heads."

"Um…looks like a duel. I think it's Viktor Krum but… oh geez. It is. He's duelling Ron. Damn it all. I even told him he'd best behave himself and treat Luna right, and what does he do? Oh, I'm going to fill his bed with itching spells for this…"

"Can we get closer? I want to see!"

"Well…it looks like there's a barrier up, so it should be safe enough, I guess…"

They were both shorter than a lot of the people watching already and used that to their advantage to wriggle to the front of the crowd. Gabrielle, bloodthirsty little imp that she was, gasped in thrilled delight when she saw all the spells flying.

"Are zhey duelling over a woman? What a lucky girl!" 

"Damn. You're going to be trouble when you get older, aren't you?"

"But of course! What else is the fun?"

"Brat."

Gabrielle just smiled cutely and batted her eyes, then laughed when he just sighed.

The duel between Ron and Krum abruptly ended, and the Durmstrang contingent cheered and dropped the barrier. 

Hermione ran out of the crowd and tackle-hugged Viktor, who swooped her up like they were in a movie. Naturally, being that it was Hermione, she began lecturing him as soon as he put her down, but he just laughed, tucked her under his arm and announced to his schoolmates that it was time to celebrate. 

The whole group moved towards the Hogshead to do just that. Harry, as well as Neville, Hannah, Dean, and Ginny, who were all in the crowd, moved in to gather up Ron.

"Three Broomsticks?" Ginny suggested.

"Actually we were on our way to the café." Harry disagreed. Ginny glared at Gabrielle, sniffed and glomped on to Dean's arm.

"Don't bother. Full house. We were just there." Dean disagreed. 

"Ah, well, in that case…" 

Harry and Neville each threw one of Ron's arms over their shoulder and hauled him off to the pub, where they plopped him in a chair and laid him face-down on the table. Dean and Ginny continued on to another table. Harry, Gabrielle, Neville and Hannah settled down at that one.

"Any idea how that started? Did he honestly leave his date with Luna to go start harassing Hermione?"

"I don't think so, actually. We had just come in when they left to go duel. Ron and Luna had just come through the door. Ron didn't actually have a chance to do anything. Krum just marched up to him and challenged him to a duel and he said 'You're on" and the next thing we know all the Durmstrang boys are putting up a barrier and cheering him on." 

"Weird. I wonder what set him off then?"

"He was swept away by love!" Gabrielle giggled.

"He was swept away by something." Hannah snorted.

"So…where's Luna at anyway?"

"I don't know. She followed Hermione, Ron and Krum out, and I saw her talking to Hermione, but then she wandered off."

"I saw her gesture to Colin to get pictures, though of course he was already doing so."

"Knowing Luna, I doubt she'll be writing about the duel. It'll probably be something about a nargle swarm, or an unusual number of blibbering humdingers making everyone's thinking fuzzy, and how the sudden infestation caused an outbreak of duelling or something." Harry snickered.

"Yeah, actually, you're probably right." Hannah laughed.

Ron groaned and began to stir. He sat up, rubbed his face blearily and looked around.

"I just had the weirdest dream…"

"If you dreamt you dueled Viktor Krum in the streets of Hogsmeade for Hermione, you weren't dreaming."

"Bloody hell. At least tell me I won."

"Sorry."

"Did I at least not make a fool of myself?"

"You did alright. You're three years behind him even so, but you were fine." 

"At least there's that. Where's Luna?"

"She left."

"Oh. I didn't break my promise you know. He came up to me and challenged me. What was I supposed to say? No?" 

"Well, I suppose you have a point. You should probably still get her flowers and apologize. Get some for Lavender too while you're at it." Neville suggested.

"That was last year!"

"So? Do you really want to be declared undateable before you're even halfway through school? Before you're old enough for any of the fun stuff? Your loss, mate." 

"Neville!" Hannah laughed.

Ron seemed to be seriously considering that, and by the look on his face it was a grim future indeed.

"Flowers, huh? Yeah. Maybe I should do that." 

Harry and Neville exchanged a puzzled glance. They'd both been expecting him to wake up and start grumbling about Hermione and Viktor again, but so far he seemed remarkably calm. Harry finally shrugged and shook his head and Neville nodded. They weren't going to bring it up for fear he would start once they reminded him. 

 

Things were even stranger when they all got back to the castle later that evening. They all braced themselves for a renewed blow-out, but instead Ron and Hermione were perfectly civil to one another, not a screaming match to be seen. The rest of them looked at each other and traded shrugs all around. It seemed like, mad as it was, the ongoing drama between them was just over. It was a puzzle.

"So…second task coming up. Does Tom know anything about what it is?"

"Yeah, actually. There was a clue in the golden egg he had to retrieve. He's supposed to retrieve something from the lake."

"They're going to make them swim in the lake? In February?"

"Yeah. Glad it's not me."

"Bloody hell. Same here. The water is freezing." Seamus agreed.

"First dragons, now this? I gotta say, I'm kind of glad there was an age line." Dean added.

"You do get a thousand galleons if you win. I'd say that was worth it!" Ron objected.

"Keywords 'if you win'. Can you imagine going through all this crap and then going home empty handed?"

"Yeah, wow. That would suck."

"Maybe we should make up a gift basket or something for the two who don't win?" Parvati suggested.

"Leftover souvenirs?"

"Well, we could fill out the basket with them, sure, but we should probably make something nice for the centerpiece."

"Yeah, otherwise it's just like, 'okay, so you didn't win, and went through all that for nothing…but here's some crap we don’t need for your trouble. Cheers!'." 

"Yeah, that would probably make it worse." 

"What do we make the centerpiece?"

"A little trophy cup? It could said 'participating champion Tri-Wizard Tournament 1994-1995"

"Yeah, that'll be nice. They can put it on their mantle and show people when they come to visit." 

"Alright. I'll whip up a couple of trophy cups." 

"I'll get some nice baskets."

"I'll gather up a sample selection of souvenirs."

"We should probably give all three of them a copy of the memory book once it's published too. Everyone else can buy theirs." 

"Yeah, good idea." 

A flock of owls coming into the hall interrupted their planning session.

"Huh. Evening Prophet. I wonder what happened?"

Hermione paid the owl that came to her and unrolled the paper, only for her, Parvati and Lavender to all gasp in unison. The boys all pulled down the paper and looked at it to see what had their eyes bugging out. There, splayed across the front page was a picture of Hermione leaping on Viktor and him twirling her around. Above it, in bold one inch letters it proclaimed "VIKTOR KRUM: ENGAGED!" 

Howls of broken-hearted protest erupted around the hall as Viktor's fangirls got wind of things. Up at the high table the teachers all looked gobsmacked. Viktor glanced at the paper, grunted, and went back to his dinner. Hermione just sat there looking flustered and shell-shocked, and then flinched when she saw all the girls glaring baleful death at her. Everyone turned to look worriedly at Ron, but he just kept eating as well. 

"Hah! Have fun explaining that to your parents." was all he said.

"Ugh! Ron! Swallow before you start talking! How many times do I have to tell you that! It's just basic manners!"

"My manners are fine, and don't try and change the subject."

They began bickering, but it seemed to have lost the bitter edge it had taken in recent months. Everyone traded another look of confusion. It just didn't make any sense. 

Over at the Ravenclaw table, Gabrielle was chattering gleefully about the bloody romance of it all. Fleur seemed hard pressed not to roll her eyes. Yep. That little girl was definitely going to be trouble when she was older.

 

"I just don't get it." Harry complained later in the Garden.

"You still haven't figured it out?" Tom replied absently. "Your bookends have been engaged, though neither of them knew it, since first year. She was in danger, he saved her from a troll. It's old magic. Save the princess from the monster, you get married. Magic doesn't discriminate on the players, it was just more likely for a princess to get rescued than a random milk-maid who didn't have a kingdom for a dowry. So, they were magically bound, but they were children, and neither one was ready for or thinking about marriage, so they were fighting it in various ways, but magic kept bringing them back together and forcing them to grind away each other's rough edges so when they were old enough they would actually fit. Viktor realized what was going on and challenged Ron to a duel, and won, which transferred that unconsummated bond to him, hence why they were announced to be engaged, not just dating."

"So…Hermione is engaged to Viktor because he won her in a duel."

"Essentially."

"Seems sexist."

"Not really. Had Granger rescued Ron from a monster the same thing would have happened. If she had rescued herself she wouldn't have formed any bond. Take it as a lesson on being self-sufficient." 

"What about if a guy rescues another guy or a girl another girl? What happens then?"

"A life debt, unless both swing that way, in which case I would expect it to work the same as in a mixed sex couple. I suppose if you're really curious we can go find Flint and Wood and throw one of them in the path of a monster."

"They were out there with everyone else battling acromantulas. I don't know how helpful that would be." 

"Hmm. Point." Tom glanced at Harry curiously. "I'm surprised you're not more upset by this. Your friend Neville has been in a steady relationship since last year. Your friend Ron has dated two girls, albeit with little success, and your other friend Hermione is engaged…while you haven't even tried dating yet. I don't know why, but I thought you'd be all over that."

"Had I remained with the Dursleys I probably would have latched on to the first girl to look at me twice and gotten married right out of Hogwarts… in fact, it probably would have been Ginny Weasley, as, let's face it, she's the only girl that has. The thing is, I'm not with the Dursleys anymore, and I already have a family, so there's no rush. Every time I even consider it I end up having nightmares of being trapped in my room at the Dursleys for weeks. No thank you. I'm enjoying my freedom too much to even consider that stuff. Anyway, I've got too much on my mind right now. I'll just wait till I'm older, find some loose women to have a few flings with. No worries." 

A distant gong drew Harry's attention. "Oh good, they're done." he hopped out of his seat and rubbed his hands together before disappearing into his workroom.

 

 

"I just realized. The second task is tomorrow." Hermione commented.

"Yeah. Retrieve something from the lake. Does Viktor know?" Harry wondered.

"Yes. He's been diving in there every day for the last few weeks trying to get familiar with it."

"Isn't that cheating?"

"No. I assume they give the clues so far in advance so the champions can practice, research and get ready. Not to mention that I don't know how much even all his scouting will help. The lake is huge, and it's very dark. Even with all his forays into it, I doubt he's seen more than a small percentage of the whole." Hermione objected. "Has Tom been practicing?"

"Not as far as I know. He knows what he has to do, he has a cold-weather extreme environment suit to wear. Beyond that, I don't think he's thought twice about the task since he figured out what it was."

"What about Fleur?"

"I have no idea. Tom said they decided to not discuss the tournament or the tasks when they went to the Yule Ball together." 

"That was probably a good idea." 

"Are the booths ready for tomorrow?" Ron wondered.

"Yep. They just need to be set up and that'll take a few minutes at most, and we've got a booth set up to start taking pre-orders for the book." Hannah agreed.

"You should see the posters. They turned out great. Of course, they all have dragons in them, so it would have been hard to ruin that." Dean offered.

"Our pith hats were a big hit last time and people kept asking where they could buy one, so we made a bunch more of them." Pansy offered.

"We also added a few more snack items, and more hot drink choices as those all went fast." Susan added.

"Sounds good."

 

Later that evening, just as Harry was getting ready to head up to bed, a knock sounded at the portrait that guarded the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. Dennis, who was close by it peeked out and then came and got Harry.

"It's for you. It's professor Snape."

"Snape? What's he want?"

"He didn't say. You probably shouldn't keep him waiting." Dennis shrugged. Harry sighed and headed outside.

 

"Mr. Potter. Come with me."

"What's this about, professor?" Harry asked, wracking his brain for anything he'd done lately to piss Snape off.

"COME." the dour professor snapped, before turning on his heel and stalking off.

"Yikes. Tough luck, mate." Ron said from the door where he'd followed.

"Yeah. Right at curfew too. He's prolly gonna give you detention for missing it." Seamus agreed.

"Great." Harry grumbled as he went stomping after him.

He continued to stride ahead until they reached his office, at which point he waited by the doorway for Harry to proceed him. He pointed him into the office without a word, still looking irate--though honestly, that was normal for him.

Harry sighed and stomped into the office, still wondering what it was all about, when he felt Snape loom up behind him and draw his wand.   
All his sparring sessions with Loki and with Tom, all the meditation practices to expand his senses and feel the magic around him coalesced in that moment. 

He knew a split second before he did so that Snape was going to shoot him in the back. He called his armor to his body and his wand to his hand with a thought, even as he was turning to meet the threat head on. Everything seemed to slow down in that moment. He saw Snape's eyes slowly widening, even as his mouth was forming the words to the spell. 

Harry's stupefy caught him in the chest and sent him flying backwards, and his incarcerous had him bound in ropes before he hit the wall. Snape was still sagging to the floor as Harry strode over and threw some floo powder in the fire.

"Madame Pomfrey! Professor Snape is under imperius! He just attacked me!" 

"WHAT?!" 

"It's okay. I have him tied up."

"Move aside, child. What on earth…" 

"Severus? Do you…SEVERUS!" 

Harry pulled his head out of the fire and turned to see professor McGonagall fussing over the unconscious Snape and preparing to untie him.

"NO! He's under imperius!"

"WHAT?"

"Minerva? What is going on?"

"Poppy? What are you…and what is this about Professor Snape being under imperius?"

"Mr. Potter said he attacked him." Pomfrey explained as she pulled her want to start scanning him. 

McGonagall groaned and put her face in her hands. "I should have known better than to leave this to him." she muttered. She then straightened and pulled her wand to ennervate the fallen professor. When he groaned and opened his eyes, he immediately blanched to find a very pissed off Minerva McGonagall standing over him.

"SEVERUS SNAPE, WHAT DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING? HMM? YOU HAD ONE JOB!" 

"Potter attacked me! Expel him!"

"BE SILENT!" 

"Does no one care that…"

"SILENCE!" 

McGonagall then sniffed and turned to face Harry, who was staring at her rather wide-eyed at this point.

"Severus? Where is it?"

"It's in my pocket… that's if it hasn't been destroyed by Potter's completely unprovoked…"

"SILENCE! Accio!"

A vial of potion flew to her hand and she held it out to Harry.

"What's this about, professor?"

"Drink it, Mr. Potter."

"And if I refuse?" Harry demanded, bringing up his wand again. It was too late though. McGonagall had already flicked her wand, sending all the liquid from the vial into Harry's stomach. She flicked her wand again and levitated him from the room before he could fall.

"Damn teenagers." 

"Minerva! Really!" 

"IS NO ONE GOING TO UNTIE ME?!!!"


	8. The Second Task

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The second task of the Triwizard Tournament commences.

"Oh my god! Did you all see the hourglass?"

"Geez! Gryffindor lost fifty points last night!" 

"What! Bloody hell! It was fine when we went to bed!"

"It was probably Snape, that bastard. He called Harry away at curfew. I knew he was going to do something to him for not being in Gryffindor on time. Jerk!" Ron growled.

"Speaking of…where the heck is Harry anyway?"

"I dunno. He was already gone when I got up. He left early?" Dean shrugged as they all sat down to breakfast.

"Hermione is gone too. She was already gone this morning when the rest of us got up." Lavender added.

The two missing students still hadn't shown up, even as breakfast drew to a close.

"They're going to miss everything at this rate."

"Maybe they're wishing Tom and Viktor luck?"

"No, look. They're there."

"You know…that little girl is missing too. Look at Delacour. She seems worried."

"You don't think…" 

"Oh my god. They're in the lake!" 

"Um…didn't the clue say whatever was taken would be lost forever if they didn't get it in an hour?" Parvati said, aghast.

"It did?!" Dean spluttered.

"Yeah. Pansy told us."

"Oh geez. I hope Tom's a good swimmer." Seamus said nervously.

"I hope they all are. Hermione and that little girl are down there too!" Ron pointed out.

"Hermione was right. This contest is barbaric. What kind of school contest kills people that didn't even choose to participate as part of a stupid task?!" Lavender muttered.

"You don't think they'd really just let them die?!" Neville gasped.

"High death tolls have always been a part of things. They told us that much right up front." Seamus noted.

"The high death tolls are why they stopped it though!"

"Not until the headmasters got killed. Everyone else was fair game." Dean pointed out.

"I'm going to be sick."

"Oh! The stands! We'd better go and get set up before they start letting the crowds in." Parvati realized.

"Yeah…"

 

The atmosphere this time was even tenser than last time. By this point, all three champions had clued in that the people they most expected to see there cheering them on were conspicuously absent.  
The champions, judges and various officials were currently on a barge in the lake. Stands had been set up alongside it, and across from the stands three large screens that were at the moment blank.

**"Welcome, witches and wizards, to the second task of the Tri-Wizard tournament! For today's task, our three champions need to rescue a hostage from the lake! They only have one hour in which to complete the task, so they need to be swift indeed! Judges, if you would activate the water eyes? We can get this show on the road!"**

The three headmasters each tapped a silvery sphere, which then flew to their respective champions and hovered just out of reach. The screens now showed the three champions standing on the barge, their worry and fear writ large across their faces, though it was obvious they were trying to hide it.

**"Each champion is allowed only themselves and their wands to deal with whatever dangers they might encounter. Lady, Gentlemen, on my mark…3! 2!.."** Bagman fired a loud bang into the air as he shouted **"ONE!"**

Fleur and Viktor immediately leapt into the water. Viktor transfigured his head into a shark's head, while Fleur gave herself a bubble-head charm. 

Tom pulled his wand as well, but he flicked it, nodded his head, and apparated. The crowds gasped, not sure what was going on…was he leaving his hostage to die? But then he reappeared out over the center of the lake and dropped down into the water. His water eye, which he'd taken with him, showed him propelling himself deeper into the water. 

Viktor, meanwhile was cutting through the water, daring anyone or anything to stop him. The crowd gasped in worry when he ran afoul of the giant squid- its massive form dwarfed him in the water, and looked quite menacing, but the squid let him pass without issue. Several long strands of seaweed reached out and tried to ensnare him, but a quick cutting charm took care of them, allowing him to break free. 

Fleur, at the moment was swimming desperately and looking panicked already, seemingly all too aware of the minutes slowly trickling away. She kept doing point me spells and correcting her course, flinching any time a school of fish, a pod of patrolling mermen, or grasping weeds came too close to her. 

The crowd gasped as Tom's water eye showed three pillars, each with a familiar hostage tied to it. They looked dead, something which seemed to freeze Tom in horror for a long moment, before he galvanized himself to start cutting Harry free. 

Tom was about to leave again, but he hesitated a moment, looked at Harry, sighed, and did something with his wand offscreen, before gathering Harry close, turning slightly and vanishing.

Tom reappeared with a loud CRACK! And a half ton of ice-cold lakewater followed him, rushing down on all the headmasters on the barge and dousing them.

**"Unbelievable! The Hogwarts Champion has already returned with his hostage! He's the first one back, clocking in at eight minutes! An amazing performance from Mister Riddle, who currently stands in the lead! Oh no! What's this! It looks like the Beauxbatons champion has found trouble!..."**

Tom ignored the yelling and spluttering of the judges to concentrate on lightly smacking Harry's face in an effort to wake him. 

"Honestly! First dragons and now this." Madame Pomfrey grumped as she stomped forward to check on them both, give them warm towels and dose them with pepper-up.

"Something's wrong. He's not waking up!"

Madame Pomfrey began scanning him and then her eyes widened in panic. "Lean him forward! Quick!"

"Poppy? What is…"

"Quiet!" 

Pomfrey's spell made Harry start heaving, and then what looked to be half the lake poured out of his mouth. She put another spell on him, that looked like a clear mask and then began bombarding him with more spells. By this point the judges, and the audience realized something was very wrong. 

Harry finally took a breath and then began coughing enough to bring up a lung, and sagged weakly in Tom's hold. 

"COME! We need to get him dry and out of those wet clothes!" 

Tom didn't ask any questions, just scooped him up and ran after her. Up in the stands Sirius, Loki, and Sigyn fought their way out of the stands to get to them.

Up on the screen, Viktor had just reached Hermione and freed her and was starting back for the barge. Fleur however, had gotten beset by a whole swarm of grindylows. 

They could see her thrashing around, trying to escape them, but for every one she cut in half, two more latched on and began digging in with their long, sharp fingers. Her blood was slowly filling the water around her, and her ankle was entangled by another seaweed. 

Fleur suddenly seemed to go mad and started thrashing and shooting spells in all directions. She managed to break free, but weakened by panic and bloodloss, she got turned around and started heading the wrong way. 

Viktor surfaced with Hermione, who he seemed to have put a bubble-head charm on before bringing her back. Viktor seemed slightly confused at the panicked gaggle of hands that grabbed her from him and pulled her free, only to begin scanning her. Hermione, unlike Harry, simply woke up as intended, with no harm taken beyond being wet and rather cold. 

Karkaroff gave them both towels and spoke to them. He was obviously telling them what happened earlier, because Hermione paled, let out a pained shout and took off running for the medical tent. 

**"Our second champion, Viktor Krum, has rescued his hostage! Clocking in at fifty eight minutes!"**

The audience were on the edge of their seats, watching the ever-more panicking Fleur trying to figure out where she needed to go. Her arms and legs were mottled with cuts and bruises and she looked rather disoriented.

Up above a horn sounded to mark the one hour limit. Deep beneath the lake a cadre of mermen surrounded Fleur and forced her to the surface, where she was pulled from the water, screaming and crying for her sister, and doing her best to wrench free of the hands holding her so she could dive back in. 

A discontented rumble was building in the stands, and two crying people, who must have been Fleur's parents, fought their way forward towards the lake, screaming Gabrielle's name. Fleur fell to her knees and began sobbing as though her heart were broken. Madame Maxime seemed to be trying to reassure and comfort her, but she couldn't hear anyone over the sound of her own horror.

The crowd was moments away from a full-on riot when several merpeople surfaced with a hysterically crying little girl wearing a bubble-head charm.

Several things then happened at once. 

A pack of ragged people, many of whom seemed to be wearing bits of animal skins as clothing, charged onto the grounds. 

The man in the lead--a monstrous, bestial looking man, flung his arm out as he charged, tearing several large gouges in the face of an unfortunate Beuxbatons' student. The audience screamed as they were spattered with her blood. 

While this was going on, the rest of the pack spread out and were attacking others in the crowd. The pack leader spotted Dumbledore and began charging at him. 

Dumbledore pulled his wand and moved to meet him, while the audience was either scrambling to get away, or trying to rain spells down on the attackers. 

In the midst of all this chaos, Neville Longbottom stood up, and a white glow of magic began to dance over his body, leaving him clad in a form-fitting dark brown body suit and silver armor. **"FOR HARRY AND FOR HOGWARTS!"** he screamed. 

Around him, the more warlike members of the Garden hopped to their feet with a shout and began glowing as well and began pouring out of the stands, vowing death to all the attackers. The less warlike members of the Garden donned their armor as well, but they stayed well back, wands and bows at the ready to provide support from the dubious safety of the stands. 

The werewolves, for that's what they were, blanched at the sudden appearance of so many well-armored people. They scattered, hoping to tear out a few more throats before fleeing. 

One had made it to the far side of the lake, and spotted Fleur, still crying and trying to entice the merfolk that were still holding Gabrielle at the center of the lake closer so she could retrieve her. They were obviously reluctant to bring either themselves or their charge closer to the chaos going on up on land. 

The judges were all distracted trying to protect the students in the stands and fight off Fenrir Greyback, who seemed bound and determined to kill Snape and Dumbledore no matter if he lost his own life in the process. The lone werewolf realized it had a clear shot at the tasty veela girl and began charging forward to grab her. 

**"FLEUR!"** Tom shouted desperately. 

Fleur's head whipped around, spotting the charging werewolf. She scrambled to her feet and began fumbling for her wand. She got it up and pointed just as the bestial man was lunging for her, long bloody claws extended to tear out her throat. There was a flash as the winter sunlight glinted off an exposed blade, and the werewolf's head went tumbling from its shoulders, spraying Fleur in hot blood that began to steam in the frigid air. She let out a scream as the now headless body tumbled to the ground, revealing Tom in strange armor, with a bloody polearm in his hands. 

Fleur flung herself at him, trembling in shock and relief, though she soon had to let go as his armor was both very cold and very uncomfortable as she was clad only in a thin bathing suit. 

The mad chaos that had overtaken the tournament came to a halt as a despairing shriek sounded out over the pained and panicked screams.

**"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"**

Tom grabbed some towels lying on the barge to drape over Fleur as they looked around at the mayhem all around them. The Garden's warriors had taken out the rest of the werewolves--one had its head caved in courtesy of Neville, the rest seemed to have been felled by silver edged swords and silver tipped arrows. 

Dumbledore had kept Fenrir busy long enough for Snape to take away his lycanthropy. Now, instead of a fast, deadly and fearsome beast, he was but an old broken man with bloodstained hands and lips. 

Aurors were pouring across the grounds now, trying to bring order and see to the wounded. 

The merfolk judged it safe enough to approach at last. Fleur nearly collapsed in relief and gathered the little girl close, rocking her back and forth as she stroked her back and head to quiet her crying, then wrapped her in the towel she was wearing to stop her shivering. Tom helped her stand with her burden and led them both back to the tent.

There was another dead werewolf just inside the entrance--Viktor's work, by the look of things. He was at the moment trying to calm Hermione who was shaken and crying.

Madame Pomfrey took charge of Gabrielle, stuffing her full of calming draught and Pepper Up potion, before wrapping her up in a warm blanket. She was most of the way through tending Fleur's many cuts, scrapes and bruises, when the announcer's voice sounded out, calling for the champions to come and get their scores.

"Is he serious? After all that?" Hermione sniffled. 

The five of them limped out to the barge. Some semblance of order had been restored. The wounded were gone and the aurors were in the process of gathering up the werewolf bodies. 

"Oh no." Hermione murmured worriedly. Tom had already spotted what she had. The Garden's warriors were gathered in a clump near the edge of the grounds being rather aggressively questioned by Aurors.

"You killed one of them too." she whispered nervously to Viktor. "Are you going to be arrested?"

"Was self-defense. Do not be worrying." 

"I can testify zhat Tom saved my life. I will fight anyone who tries to punish him for zhis!" Fleur agreed with a scowl before snuggling up against him. 

**"And now, ladies and gentlemen, it is time for the scores! First up, Tom Riddle, the Hogwarts Champion. Judges, what say you?"**

Pius Thickness held up a ten, as did Dumbledore. Madame Maxime glanced at Gabrielle and held up a 10 as well. Karkaroff glared at everyone and held up a five, sneering when the entire stands erupted in booing and hissing.

**"Tom Riddle, Hogwarts champion with 35 out of 40 points! Next up, Viktor Krum, who successfully retrieved his hostage and came in at the 58 minute mark. Judges, what say you?"**

Karkaroff immediately held up a 10, which made the stands erupt in fury once more. The other three considered a moment and held up an eight.

**"Viktor Krum, champion of Durmstrang with 34 out of 40 points!"**

Karkaroff began snarling and slumped in his seat with a pout.

**"And last but not least, the lovely champion of Beauxbatons, Fleur Delacour!"**

Karkaroff held up a four, and sat back again, having lost all interest in the proceedings now that his champion was in second place. Pius Thickness looked at the distraught girl and gave her a 7. Dumbledore and Maxime did as well. 

Rather than being pleased by the well-meant sop to her pride, Fleur flinched. It was obvious she didn't feel she deserved any points at all.

**"And for the Beauxbatons champion, Twenty five points out of forty! The point standings are now as follows: with a total of sixty six points out of eighty, Tom Riddle the Hogwarts Champion! In second place, with a total of sixty four points, the champion of Durmstrang, Viktor Krum! And finally, in third place, Fleur Delacour, Champion of Beauxbatons with fifty-five points! This concludes the second task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament! I hope you'll all be joining us on June 24th for the thrilling conclusion!"**

By the looks on many of the faces in the stands, the chances of many of them coming back again were pretty slim. 

 

After nearly a half hour of being grilled by the Aurors, Dumbledore and the teachers came and rescued the Garden Warriors from their interrogation. 

"I do believe that will be quite enough." Dumbledore said firmly. "These children were defending their lives and those of our guests. They came here with one purpose and one purpose only. To kill. I saw myself that nearly two dozen wounded were portkeyed to St. Mungo's for emergency service. We don't yet know how many will survive. Though I'm no fan of lethal methods of crime-fighting, surely you must realize they had little choice. The spell to cure lycanthropy has not yet been widely disseminated. There were many adults in the stands doing their best to rain non-lethal spells down on them to subdue them. They were simply too fast and too agile for anyone to hit. This is a rather clear cut case of self-defense. If the Ministry has anything further to say about it they can come to me. LATER. These children have had quite enough excitement for one day, I believe." 

Neither of the Aurors seemed happy about it; they seemed mortally offended that anyone would go around defending themselves when there were Aurors on call whose job it was to do that, but they did back off.

"We'll be in touch." the hard-faced Auror on the left warned.

"I look forward to it." said Dumbledore airily. When they had gone, the kids released their armor, and were once more clad in their school uniforms.

"I don’t know about the rest of you, but I think I'm just about thrilled out." Ron said numbly.

"Me too." Neville echoed.

"Let's go see how Harry's doing." 

They headed back and gathered the rest of the group from the stands and set off towards the Champion's tent. 

"We don't know how long he was like that." Millicent said quietly. "That he was breathing last we saw him is a good sign but…"

"He might be brain damaged." Theo agreed, voice grim.

The rest of them traded worried looks. It seemed too much to contemplate that their friend, even if he lived, might be lost to them forever.

 

The whole crowd tried to duck into the tent, but there wasn't enough room, instead those at the back ended up standing on their toes and trying to see what was going on.

"Where's Harry? Is he up in the medical wing?"

"They transferred him to St. Mungo's. Loki, Sirius and Sigyn went with him." Tom answered.

"How is he though?"

"We don't know yet." Hermione sniffled. 

Gabrielle Delacour began to quietly cry once more from where she was ensconced between her parents.

"I do not understand. Gabrielle and 'ermione had ze bubble head on, and zhey did not drown, even zho my poor Gabrielle was left in ze deeps where I could not reach her. Why didn't 'arry? It makes no sense." Fleur demanded.

"I put the bubble heads on them." Tom admitted. "I was just going to leave, but I could already hear Harry bitching at me about leaving them down there to possibly drown. Hermione is his friend, and he's oddly fond of Gabrielle, even though he's convinced she's going to try to become the goddess-empress of France and make all the men her minions when she comes of age. I'll admit, I didn't think there was any chance they would drown. I was honestly just trying to save myself a headache later."

Hermione looked vaguely ill when he finished speaking, and everyone in the room turned to look at little Gabrielle in horror.

"S-she was awake when they brought her up." Pansy said.

"What the hell were they thinking? She could have drowned!" Draco added.

"And she would have, had Tom not intervened as he did." Luna agreed.

"That's monstrous!"

"It's the goblet of fire. They awoke a power greater than they knew when they brought it out. The goblet is a very old artifact from a crueler, more savage age. It, the whole tournament in fact, is steeped in ancient magic. There has to be actual danger for the prize to have any meaning. The first task, after you volunteer and are chosen, you risk your own life and well-being for victory. In the second, you wager the lives of your loved ones who are literally subdued and taken hostage . If I'm right, the third task will simply pit champion against champion. There can be only one winner at the end." Luna said in her dreamy voice, cutting through the indignant chatter with ease.

"Eet iz not worth it! I was willing to wager my own life for ze tournament, but not Gabrielle! She did not ask to be part of zis!" Fleur burst out, the stress of the day once more coming to the fore.

"Once bound you have to follow through or the goblet will extract a terrible price for not seeing it through to the end--that goes for the champions and those running the tournament in equal measure. They warned everyone off putting their name in lightly for a reason."

"And what iz zis price? Perhaps I will pay eet!"

"The goblet is the only arbiter. It may take your life, it may take your magic, it may take your sister. No one knows. There are only records of two who forfeited before the end of the tournament and a different price was extracted from each. Unless you're certain whatever price is taken is one you will be willing to pay, I wouldn't suggest backing out now." 

Fleur closed her eyes in despair.

Tom looked down at his hands which were clenched on his lap to keep them from shaking. Though he said nothing, everyone could tell he already felt he may have paid too much.

Everyone looked up when McGonagall pushed her way into the tent. She looked like she'd aged a decade.

"Come along, everyone. Classes will be beginning after lunch."

"You can't seriously expect us to go to class after everything that happened!" Ginny snarled.

"Move along." 

Amid much protest the students started back to the castle. 

Fleur stopped Tom before he left, wrapped herself around him and kissed him until he was dazed and breathless. 

"Um…what?"

"Zhank you for saving me…and for saving Gabrielle. I do not care why you deed eet. Zhat is a debt I can never repay."

"Ah, yes. You're welcome." Tom replied, still dazed. 

"Yay! I 'ave a 'andsome big brozher!" Gabrielle said cheerfully. She squirmed out from between her parents, who were watching Fleur and Tom with small smiles on their faces. Gabrielle threw her arms around them both and hugged them, still grinning.

The girls' parents rose and joined them. "Zhank you, dear boy, for saving zhem." their mother said, kissing both his cheeks. 

"Zhey are our greatest treasure." their father agreed. "Welcome to the family, dear boy." he added, patting Tom firmly on the shoulder. 

_"Ancient magic"_ Tom realized. 

Had it really only been a few short weeks ago that he and Harry had spoken of this very thing? And here he was, ensnared in it himself. His arms tightened around Fleur, was still quite happily wrapped around him. He hadn't even thought of the consequences, and if he had, he might not have cared. All he knew was that, for a moment the whole world had narrowed down to the girl in his arms and the monster that was threatening her. 

"Will you buy me a pony?" Gabrielle asked suddenly. "I 'ave always wanted one." 

"Gabrielle!" her sister and parents all said in varying tones of resignation.

Tom snorted, but it came out sounding more like a sob.

Fleur tightened her grip on him.

"Your leetle brozher will be alright."

"You don't know that."

"No, I do not. But I will believe eet strong enough for both of us zho that it weel be true." 

Tom rested his chin on the top of her head and closed his eyes for a moment.

"I'll hold you to that." 

 

The remainder of the day at Hogwarts was rather subdued. Between Harry and Gabrielle's near drowning, and the battle versus the werewolves which had left one Beauxbatons and two Durmstrang students maimed, as well as a dozen others who had simply come to watch the tournament, there was plenty to brood over. 

The only bright spot so far was that Fenrir Greyback, werewolf terrorist responsible for countless deaths as well as most of the existing British werewolves was both powerless and behind bars. He had been a wanted criminal for many years now. He was expected to remain in Azkaban for the remainder of his life.

Professors Dumbledore and Snape left to go to St. Mungo's that afternoon to remove any werewolf infections that might have passed to the victims of the battle. Fenrir and his closest allies had all embraced the werewolf curse and it made them infectious even in human form. 

 

Once classes were over, the kids of the Garden gathered in their workrooms, but not much work got done. Everyone was too worried about Harry. They eventually ended up gathering in the enchanter's workshop--it was the largest of the workrooms and had the most seating, even if most of it was on tables and countertops. 

"I still don't get it. Why did those werewolves attack like that?" Justin wondered. "What was even the point of it?"

"With lycanthropy being able to be cured, Fenrir and his goons realized their main weapon, fear, was lost to them. Fenrir liked to style himself a 'werewolf rights activist' and said that's why he kept infecting people, but it was all bull." Adrien Pucey explained. "So, they came here to cause a massacre, to make sure people understood--you can cure the disease, but it doesn't help much if you're dead." 

"Yeah. If he wanted more rights for werewolves he would have infected members of the Wizengamot; you know, the people who actually have some control over the laws. He didn't do that though. He infected folks that got in his way, ones that irritated him, random shmucks that happened to be in his path when he was running amok. Lycanthropy is a CURSE, it isn't just an unfortunate disease that makes you furry once a month. It changes you. When you're like that you hunger for the flesh of men. You either eat or infect anyone you come across. Over time, a lot of infected folks start becoming a bit feral even when there's no full moon out. Folks like Fenrir and his gang embraced it and were more cursed wolf than human." Theo agreed. 

"There's probably more folks out there like Professor Lupin, who spent their whole lives fighting the curse and struggling to remain human…but if there are they stayed quietly away and didn't make waves. It's the ones the curse got to, that were out and about and ruining lives, that people think of when they think of werewolves." Millicent added. "And so that's the whole reason they attacked. They realized people weren't going to be afraid of them anymore, knew the Aurors would be coming for them. If they snooped around and realized no one but Snape and Dumbledore knew the cure yet, they also figured they had a chance to keep the cure from ever spreading. All the folks who got attacked were just in the wrong place at the wrong time." 

"Why don't more people know? I don't get it. We knew Professor Lupin was cured last month. There's been another full moon since then." Draco wondered.

"I think it was kept quiet and contained because they were hoping to head off something like what happened. They've been slowly gathering up the werewolves that have tried to stay contained and not infect anyone. They didn't want word getting out until they were ready to mount an assault on Fenrir and his group of crazies, but word got out anyway." Terrence suggested.

"Of course it did! They did everything backwards. They should have cured Fenrir and his crazies and then gathered up the rest." Susan huffed.

"There were some folks that argued that a lot of innocents whose only crime was to be unlucky enough to be infected were likely to get caught in the crossfire. Most werewolves, even if they're not really down with Fenrir and his gang, end up in the werewolf city sooner or later because they don't have anywhere else to go." Tom shrugged.

"So instead of innocent werewolves, innocent school kids and audience members ended up getting hurt." Pansy said with disgust.

"Pretty much, though I highly doubt they'd have been so quick to do things the way they did if they knew what the result was going to be." 

 

Tom pulled his PDA when it buzzed to signal an incoming message. He left the room briefly and returned with the mirror, which he enlarged and hung up on the wall, revealing a haggard-looking Sirius.

"Hey, kids."

"Sirius!"

"How's Harry?"

"How's everyone?"

"Is he going to be okay?"

"Did anyone die?"

"Hey, hey, give me a chance to answer. Harry is fine for the moment. The healers think his armor might have buffered the effects of him drowning somewhat."

A relieved babble broke out among most of the kids, except for Tom, who stared at Sirius' haggard face and waited. 

"What aren't you telling us?" he demanded.

"Loki isn't human. The armor used to be his, and it was made for someone of his species. They think it helped, but imperfectly. Harry's body temperature was extremely low. They're going to have to regrow the tips of a few of his fingers. He has an irregular heartbeat. They think his heart was damaged some. They've assured me they can fix that as well. They're also concerned about all the water that was in his lungs. There's a chance he could develop pneumonia. He seemed confused and a bit out of it earlier. He may just be a little fuzzy right now, might have some holes in his recent memories, but beyond that it's too soon to tell, or so they tell me. I'm trying to stay positive. You all should as well. Send him some good vibes. It should help. He's alive and recovering. That's the important thing." 

"How long is he going to be there?"

"A few days at least. That's was the best they could tell me. I'll update you as I learn more." 

"Can we see him?" Daphne asked.

"He's getting his fingertips regrown right now, so no. He's unconscious. They had to lop off the dead parts first."

Several of the kids flinched, a few shuddered.

"What about the others? From the werewolf attack?" Ron asked in a small voice.

"Three of them died. They all had their throats torn out. They probably died almost instantly. The rest of them were caught at a bad angle or they managed to rear back and got less lethal damage. The Durmstrang students that were injured should be back tomorrow or the day after."

"The Beauxbatons…?"

"She was one of the three that died."

The kids sat in numb silence for several minutes. It was all so senseless and pointless. One minute watching a school tournament, next moment dead.

"Does anyone know why it happened? Harry I mean. I was rescued a lot later than he was, and I was fine. The only reason Gabrielle was awake is because she was still down there after the hour passed. Why didn't it work for him?" Hermione demanded.

"From what we've gathered, Snape tried to shoot him in the back, but Harry disarmed him and tied him up. He thought he was under imperius. He called Madame Pomfrey to come fix him. Then McGonagall showed up and spelled the stuff directly into his stomach when he refused to drink it. The healers think, because he was frightened and on high alert, didn't know what was going on or why teachers were attacking him, he was fighting the potion and burned it out of his system early. Of course he was underwater and tied to a stake when he woke up, so it didn't do him much good. If they'd taken a moment to explain, this whole mess could have been avoided." 

"The staff are bound to the tournament as well." Luna interjected.

"Hmm…and yet, I just can't bring myself to care." Sirius replied.

The children had no reply to that.

"Where's Loki?" Tom asked.

Sirius smiled viciously. "He left a little while ago. He said he had a goblet to destroy and some people to curse. I wished him good luck." 

 

When the kids returned to the rest of the castle for dinner that night, it was obvious that word had spread about the deaths. The banners in the great hall were all black, and the Beauxbatons students and their headmistress were missing. The staff were all grim-faced and pale.

Dinner was fairly quiet that evening. After all the bloodshed that morning, no one seemed to be in the mood for gaiety. The somber mood was only made worse by the arrival of the evening Prophet, which as always went for the most lurid coverage they could muster.

BATTLE OF THE SECOND TASK! The headlines proclaimed. Just beneath it was a photo showing the Garden kids charging into the pack of werewolves, while frightened injured people ran and screamed in the background.

_In a shocking turn of events, the second task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament turned bloody as Fenrir Greyback, infamous werewolf terrorist and his band of savage followers attacked Hogwarts, leaving three dead and countless numbers injured._  
_"They just came out of nowhere. We were watching the task and the next thing I knew my good friend was lying across my lap with her throat torn out! I've known Michelle since we were both small children…. And now she is dead! What am I to tell her mother?"_  
_In a rush of unprecedented savagery, the werewolves charged through the crowd, doing their best to kill anyone unlucky enough to cross their paths. Luckily for everyone there, the Rainbow Knights of Hogwarts were equal to the task…_

"The rainbow knights?" Ron groaned. "Geez. Could they make us sound any more lame?"

"You have to admit, it's sort of fitting." Lavender shrugged. 

"Apparently the Prophet has decided to reverse its support of the tournament. They're now calling it a 'savage and backwards relic of a bygone age' and criticizing the Ministry for bringing it back." Hermione commented. 

She turned the page to read the rest of the story and her breath caught at the large picture of Harry, lying limp and unconscious in Tom's arms as he scooped him up and raced after Madame Pomfrey. 

Further down was a photograph of Fleur, screaming and crying as she tried to dive back in the water, only to be held back by the judges.

"They're not pulling any punches are they? _Reckless child endangerment, negligence…_ they've raked the whole staff, the judges and the Ministry as a whole over the coals for this mess." Neville agreed. 

"Maybe they should. It really might have been best left to the past." Parvati said quietly. "It's one thing for those who volunteer to compete or die, but to have others who didn't volunteer get roped in as well? I mean…they must have known, right? Past tournaments have been documented, and the goblet has been sitting around collecting dust for a couple hundred years. I find it hard to believe no one knew what they were unleashing on the unsuspecting champions and their families." 

"She's right. I mean, we don't know if Harry will make a full recovery yet." Lavender agreed.

"And were it not for his saving-people thing that little girl would have drowned." Hermione added. "Poor Tom must feel so guilty. He only entered because he wanted to make some quick money. Harry had no interest in the tournament at all, but he's the one that ended up suffering for it." 

"About the only good thing that came out of the whole mess is that Harry got to knock out Snape and tie him up." Ron agreed. The rest of their year group grinned slightly and a few of them snickered. 

Neville suddenly frowned and sat up straight. "That ruddy bastard! He tried to shoot Harry in the back, then McGonagall used the fact that he trusted her against him and now he nearly died and he's in the hospital… Snape took fifty points from Gryffindor because Harry defended himself… and after everything, McGonagall and Dumbledore let it stand!" 

A stir of angry discontent went through the students in earshot and many of them turned to glare at the staff table.

"It's an outrage, is what it is. I'm going to go say something about it right now." Ginny announced, standing from her seat. Hermione huffed and rolled her eyes as she yanked the younger girl back down.

"And what, exactly will that accomplish? Nothing. And what are you going to do when they tell you no? Hex them?"

"Just because you're too afraid…!"

"Oh, honestly! It isn't that I'm afraid, it's that I know making a scene in the great hall won't accomplish anything. If you go and confront the headmaster in front of everyone, and he puts the points back, that's the same as him publicly castigating Professor Snape for being a petty, childish, small-minded little man, and he's never going to do that. He'll simply chide you that he's a professor and make the point loss stand. What's more, Professor McGonagall won't appreciate you calling them out publicly like that and she may well take more points for doing so. It would be better to wait until after dinner and confront Professor McGonagall privately in her office and "remind" her that Snape took all those points and that under the circumstances it just seems to be in terribly bad taste and let her handle it from there."

"That or we can just tell Tom what Snape did and let him handle it." Ron suggested.

"Oh please. Like he's going to care about Gryffindor being down fifty points. He's a Slytherin, remember? All those lost points give Slytherin a better chance at the cup." Ginny scoffed.

The rest of the table was nodding their heads though. 

"Yeah. Tell Tom." Seamus grinned. 

"Get Snape to give the points back." Dean agreed. 

"That will hurt him far worse than Dumbledore or McGonagall doing it. Call him out on his bad behavior and make him fix it." Neville nodded, grinning as well.

"Uh, hello? Slytherin, remember?" Ginny interjected.

"Family transcends house rivalries." Parvati sighed. "He might not do it for any old Gryffindor, but for his little brother he would." 

"They're not really brothers." Ginny interjected again, sounding quite put-upon.

"Of course they are." Ron disagreed. The rest of them nodded.

"Yeah. Where have you been?" Lavender scoffed.

"Not with us." Parvati reminded her. 

"There. I just sent Tom a message." Hermione spoke up. They all turned to look, including Ginny, whose eyes had narrowed upon learning what the 'funny little thing' they all always seemed to be playing with could do.

Tom read the message, his eyes narrowed and he turned to look at Snape with an expression that promised nothing good.

"There, see? All sorted." Ron said with satisfaction. 

"What's he doing now?" Seamus wondered.

"Is that Olaf?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, I think it is." 

"Is he gonna have him slip something in his drink?" Neville asked curiously.  
"Or send him in to curse his room?" Ron wondered, sounding hopeful.  
"Maybe have him swipe his personal stores until he agrees to give back the points?" Dean suggested.  
"Dunno. I guess we'll see. I hope he curses his room." Ron shrugged.  
"Ron, honestly." 

"Hey, did any of you see this?" Lavender suddenly spoke up. She was still flipping through the paper, and had stopped on a small article buried about halfway through.

"What is it?"

"It looks like Loki made good on at least one of his threats. It says there was an "explosion and fire of unknown cause" that took out the goblet of fire, as well as several other ancient binding artifacts, in the bowels of the Ministry earlier. They don't know yet what caused it or how extensive the damage is. They say they'll be following up on the story as they learn more."

"Huh. Looks like Snape's getting cursed no matter what Tom decides to do." Neville noted. 

"Good. Couldn't happen to a greasier git." Ron replied cheerfully. 

 

"Well? What have you found?" the head Unspeakable asked the rest of the department.

"We have records on all the binding artifacts except this one. There's nothing anywhere that even slightly resembles it." 

"Stone shackles. Our dementor friend was a real comedian." the head Unspeakable scoffed. "This is what we all felt earlier. Look there." 

"It's a drawer full of soot." 

"Our employment contracts. They must have been connected to this thing somehow. We had surmised that Merlin planned to release our work here to create a golden age for wizardkind once he attained the eminence he sought. He must have built in a way to disable the secrecy altogether so he could do that when the time was right."

"We're free then?"

"I was able to tell the janitor and a passing reporter that there was a fire and several binding artifacts were caught in the blast and destroyed." 

"We're free." Unspeakable Croaker said with some disbelief.

"We're free." the rest of them echoed.

"Why though? It doesn't make sense. One would think Merlin would have taken us out along with the secrecy. He wanted no competition. He wanted to stand above the rest of us like a god before ants."

"I agree. I can only figure that Mr. Odinson found some way to negate that part when he destroyed them. That, or we overestimated Merlin's wish to stand alone. I don't know. All I do know is that the chains of silence that have bound us since time immemorial have been shattered."

"And yet, because of a royal edict, we still cannot truly begin preparing the world for what is eventually coming." Andromeda said with frustration.

"We can release bits and pieces of our research, enough to start sparking questions and opening new fields of inquiry. In fact, it might be better this way. Our society is in no way ready to go from where we are to where we need to be overnight, but they are ready to start working towards that. The little bits and pieces the children have released and the populace's reaction has shown us that much. Hopefully by the time the children have decided they've done enough to prove themselves our society will be in a better position to accept the necessity in stride and begin working for it, rather than panicking and running amok. We still have time. We've been watching the muggles more in depth than the children can manage and for longer. We should be able to keep them contained for the time being."

"We can perhaps keep the muggles contained. But what about the children? They've discovered HYDRA, even if they don't yet realize what it is they've discovered. I think we can all agree that once they do realize what they've found, the chances of them running off to try and battle them goes up exponentially."

The gathered Unspeakables all cringed at the thought of a whole band of idealistic teenagers, clad in a rainbow array of suits and covered in clanking metallic armor charging off to battle muggles. It would be a mess, to say the least.

"Perhaps we should hedge our bets a bit." Unspeakable Bode spoke up.

"Meaning?"

"Arnim Zola. I have long felt that we should have interfered more in that business."

"Arnim Zola?" one of the younger Unspeakables asked.

"He was the head of research and development under the Red Skull, HYDRA's leader during the muggle war. He was terrified of the Red Skull, and so the Americans thought he could be trusted after they rescued him. Unfortunately, while he was in fact terrified of the Red Skull, he didn't actually disagree with him or what he was doing. He was brought in to work for the SSR, the organization that eventually became SHIELD. As near as we've been able to tell, he began recruiting and setting up HYDRA cells within the organization pretty much right from the start."

"He's likely to be an old man now, retired or soon to…"

"Actually he died in the seventies."

"He's dead? Then why…?"

"Rather, I should say his body died. He figured out how to put his mind into a muggle computer. He had prolonged contact with the cosmic cube. We believe it changed him, made him magical enough that he was able to essentially create a horcrux… though instead of splitting his soul, he put the whole of it and his mind into the machine. He lives, if you can call it that. What's more, it is he who is coordinating HYDRA, keeping them from SHIELD's notice and keeping track of all their operations. He's an abomination in any case and should have been dealt with long since. More than that though, without him organizing everyone, HYDRA will not be able to hide themselves or their activities so effectively. SHIELD will begin to notice. Once they do, they'll be too wrapped up in their civil war to worry about us. It has the added benefit of keeping the children out of things. If they peek in and see all of SHIELD seems to be quite gleefully slaughtering one another in the halls of their many bases, they'll be loath to get involved, I shouldn't think. If their civil war goes on long enough, it should greatly lessen SHIELD's threat overall."

"I agree it seems a worthwhile endeavor, but the muggles will notice if their computer man is suddenly destroyed."

"Not if it is done correctly. It will take some coordination, and probably a lot of training beforehand to make sure we can pull it off, but if we do it correctly they shouldn't realize it was anything but bad luck and natural causes."

"Natural causes?"

"Solar flares and power surges. I will need an international team to pull it off." 

The head Unspeakable nodded. "I will bring it up in my meeting with the other heads. You'll have your team." 

"If we're going to start actively opposing SHIELD and HYDRA, we should also make plans to retrieve the various magical artifacts they've stumbled across and squirreled away over the years."

"It would best be done in coordination with the conflict so that each side thinks the other has possession of the artifacts. We don't want them looking for outside culprits." 

"I'll bring that up at the meeting as well. Both HYDRA and SHIELD have bases worldwide. We will need the cooperation of the other Departments if we want to be successful. In the meantime, start going through the back files and picking things to be released to the public. Nothing too advanced or too startling. If you can find anything that will point the children in the right direction without giving them all the answers, even better. Unspeakable Bode, begin drawing up preliminary plans for our strikes against SHIELD and HYDRA. Unspeakable Tonks, see if you can get more directly involved with the children and the corporation. Once we begin, I suspect things will start moving quickly. I would feel better if we had someone on site to contain things if necessary. That will be all for now. Dismissed." 

 

Alexander Pierce, newly installed Director of SHIELD as of two hours ago, when the former director Peggy Carter finally got the hint and vamoosed, made his way towards the abandoned ammo dump that housed the organization's greatest weapon and ace in the hole. Once he officially filled the director's chair for the first time come morning it would be difficult to get away without anyone asking questions. It was now or never.

He inspected his surroundings as he made his way through, checking to make sure the dust was undisturbed, that no silly students from the SHIELD academy had decided to claim the place for their own--though it was a small worry; the academy was all the way on the other side of what was after all a sizeable compound. 

It was rather ironic, he thought, as he opened the hidden door and revealed the brand-new heavy duty bulletproof elevator behind it, that this place was one of very few in this modern age that was free of their own surveillance. 

The elevator let him off in another dust covered former office, filled with equipment that, though only twenty years out of date looked quite ancient and clunky next to the high-end state of the art machines that filled the rest of their facilities. 

As he approached, the ancient equipment stirred to life and the magnetic tapes began whirring. The clunky old monitor sparked to life, revealing the face of the being now housed there. 

He was an unpleasant looking man--even in this altered state he wore thick glasses that almost-but-not-quite hid the mean, beady, rat-like eyes behind them. He had a round, fat face that in life was prone to being covered at all times with a shiny sheen of sweat, thinning hair that even with the best comb-over couldn't hide the shiny bald head beneath the greasy strands. As if this weren't unfortunate enough, he also had thick, wet lips and a high, unpleasant voice. 

He seemed to come directly from central casting -- _"Needed-- creepy unpleasant fellow to play villain. Must have unfortunate features and a quintessential evil German accent"_ . 

He did too, even though he was actually Swiss. 

Ah well, the man was a genius, and he'd done something no one else had ever done; he had granted himself true immortality, and his consciousness now spanned the globe… or at least those parts covered in cameras, computers, televisions or phones. With each day that passed, as more and more of people's lives were put onto the globe-spanning internet for his perusal, his power and his genius grew. 

"Mr. Pierce… or should I say, Director." Arnim Zola greeted him as he settled in the worn office chair in front of the monitor. He began tittering then, and it was just as unpleasant as the rest of him, though you would never know it from Pierce's face. He was a lifelong politician, and his smiles were always picture perfect. 

"Yes, Director indeed. Finally. The old broad didn't know how to take a hint." Pierce replied with a boyish grin. 

"Ah yes, dear little Peggy. She tried so hard to be a worthy adversary. She failed, of course. All these years and she never once saw the viper poised at her throat, nor the gaping maw beneath her feet. It is of no matter. We can thank her for being so very sincere in her desire to protect the world from evil. She handed us the keys to the kingdom, and the weapons to remake it in our own image." 

Alexander Pierce smiled. "Hail HYDRA."

On the screen, Arnim Zola began to laugh. 

"Hail HYDRA! **Hail HYDRA!** _ **HAIL HYDRA!!"**_


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry returns from St. Mungo's. HYDRA and the Department of Mysteries start to move. The space program takes a giant leap forward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the long delay! Real life and a bit of writer's block got in the way, and the time just got away from me.  
> In any case, here's the next chapter. Enjoy!

Severus Snape, potions master of Hogwarts and all-around misanthrope, woke with a grimace and glared at the wall before heaving himself out of bed to get ready for the morning.

  
He'd had a rough couple of days, and so far as he was concerned he was more than due a bit of bitterness because of it.

  
First-- the wretched Potter brat had _attacked_ him. _Then_ , the brat had gone and nearly _died_ , and now everyone was looking at _him_ like he was some sort of monster. BAH!

 _Then_ , the rest of the sniveling little Gryffindors had gone crying to Minerva about the points he'd justly taken for the _completely unwarranted attack_ on his person and set her on the warpath, demanding he _return_ them!

  
All that was quite bad enough, but then he'd had nightmares all night.

  
Each time the dream started the same. He woke in darkness, alone, betrayed, bound and helpless. Cold seeped down to his very bones. He would try to cry out, to call for help… and then icy water would start pouring down his throat, into his lungs--freezing, burning, choking the life out of him.

Just when it seemed he would surely die... he would wake with a gasp, heart racing… only to stumble to the bathroom and spend twenty minutes desperately coughing and heaving and trying to rid himself of icy lake water that wasn't actually there.

  
When he'd finally convinced his mind that he was not in fact drowning and could breathe just fine, he had returned to bed only to find himself trapped in the same nightmare once more! Three times he'd woken gasping for air, feeling cold down to his bones. As a result it was now morning and he was exhausted and had classes to teach, so he couldn't even try to go back to bed for more sleep!

  
He stumbled towards the shower, cursing any and all Potters that had ever existed for his troubles.

 When he emerged some time later, feeling marginally better after a long, hot shower, he strode out of his bedroom, dressed for the day and eager for breakfast.

  
That was when the house elf appeared, with a smoking red envelope in hand, which he thrust at Snape before disappearing once more.

  
Snape, who had grabbed the thing when it was thrust at him, could only gape at it now in horror.

  
A howler? For _him_? The absolute _nerve_ … The **cheek**! Who would **_dare?_**

  
He was so flabbergasted that he stared at it rather than vanishing it like a sensible person would. While he dithered, it formed a mouth and began shouting at him in a voice that echoed like the sound of an angry god visiting its wrath on a hapless mortal.

  
**SEVERUS SNAPE! YOU SPINELESS, TREACHEROUS, _ARROGANT TOERAG_! HOW DARE YOU TRY TO SHOOT MY SON IN THE BACK! AND AFTER YOU HAD THE ABSOLUTE _NERVE_ TO TELL ME YOU HAD _ALWAYS BEEN MY FRIEND_? IF YOU HAD _EVER_ BEEN MY FRIEND YOU WOULD HAVE NEVER _CONSIDERED_ TREATING MY ONLY SON THE WAY I'M TOLD YOU HAVE! **

**YOU HAD BEST PRAY YOU DIE IN YOUR SLEEP YOU SNIVELLING BASTARD! IF I EVER SEE YOU SET A SINGLE TOE IN VALHALLA, I WILL TAKE GREAT PLEASURE IN MAKING YOUR AFTERLIFE A MISERY…**

  
Snape sunk down in a nerveless heap as the woman of his dreams, his darling Lily, dead these many years, snarled at him from the afterlife and swore eternal vengeance upon him.  
His face twisted into a miserable scowl.  
_"POTTER!"_

 

Through the halls of Hogwarts, Loki stalked unseen to check up on his handiwork.

  
A thought took him to the Headmaster's tower. Albus Dumbledore sat alone in his office, staring blankly at the wall. He was carefully sipping at a calming draught and rubbing at his chest. He looked like he'd aged a decade overnight. Loki considered a moment and decided to let the old man be. He had suffered the fate he'd given to his son thrice. It was enough. The man was quite old for a mortal, and he didn’t want to kill him, just make him suffer a bit.

  
Another thought took him to the quarters of Minerva McGonagall. She sat silently weeping in her office, sipping at a snifter of brandy held in a shaking hand. She too would be shown mercy.

  
Another thought took him to his last stop. Severus Snape sat huddled in petulant misery, cursing his son's name and blaming him for every disappointment he'd ever suffered.

Loki's eyes hardened. He had earned himself the full measure of vengeance at his hand.

  
Thrice and thrice would he suffer. He would check up on him again after he'd suffered two more nights, dreaming the fate he'd been so eager to hand down to his son. The man had practically salivated at the chance to strike him down with no repercussions. There would be no mercy for this one.

Another thought brought him back to his son's bedside. Sigyn, his beloved wife, sat quietly in the corner, embroidering something or other and occasionally smiling at the two on the bed. Harry was asleep once more, likely lulled so by Hela, who was idly carding her fingers through his hair while humming a familiar lullaby. It made him smile reminiscently. He had sung the same to Hela and her brothers when the three of them were still small enough to be held together in his lap.  
Hela turned to look at him.

  
"Enjoy your vengeance, mother?"  
"Yes. Very much so."  
"Did they suffer?"  
"Indeed."

  
Hela nodded, patting Harry's hair one last time before rising to leave.  
" _Good._ "

 

 

 

Harry returned to Hogwarts Sunday afternoon, just as everyone was heading down to lunch.

  
"HARRY! Good to have ya back, mate!" Ron called excitedly from the stairs.

  
Harry grinned a bit and gave a half-hearted wave. He seemed to be moving rather gingerly, something everyone noted.

  
"Oh, goodness, Harry! There was permanent damage, wasn't there?" Susan Bones sniffled.

  
"Nah. I ran into Hagrid on the way in. He was real happy to see me. Too happy." Harry replied with a sigh.

  
"You're alright then? Oh thank goodness."

  
Those closest took that as their cue to mob him. He was soon being hugged, and pounded on the back and arms, from all directions.

  
"Ok, geez. You'd think I'd almost died or something. Oh….right." Harry joked when it started getting to be a bit much.

  
"Not funny." Tom scolded.

  
"It was a little funny." Harry quipped back.

  
"Harry! I'm so glad you're alright." Harry glanced to his right and found Ginny Weasley there. She was standing just a bit too close and rubbing his arm.

  
"Uh, thanks. Good to be back."

  
"We were all so concerned about you." Ginny said rather huskily.

  
"Uh…thanks."

  
He was distracted from further talk when something tackled him around the middle and squeezed.

  
"'arry! You are back!"

  
Harry glanced down and found Gabrielle Delacour grinning back at him.

  
"Hey, Trouble."

  
The little girl pouted up at him and stamped her foot in irritation.

  
"I told you! If you are going to give me pet name, you call me beautiful!"

  
"Nope. You're Trouble, with a capital T."

  
He was distracted once more when Hermione nudged Ginny aside so she could tackle hug him as well.

  
"HARRY! Thank goodness! Have you been keeping up with your homework? I have the notes from the classes you missed and I can help you get caught up after lunch if you like, and there was a quiz Friday that you'll have to make up…" Hermione began babbling.

She was nudged aside a moment later by the arrival of Fleur Delacour, who kissed Harry on both cheeks.

  
"Ah, 'arry, I am zho glad to see you returned."

  
"Thanks."

  
"You must be starving." Ginny tried to regain Harry's attention.

  
"A little. I had a big breakfast. They actually feed you pretty good in hospital."

  
"We should probably move though. The folks on the stairs are getting a bit irritated about us all blocking the way." Hermione decided.

  
"Oi, mate, did you hear? Tom got your mum to send Snape a howler." Ron snickered as he pushed his way to Harry's side, knocking Ginny away from the group gathered around Harry.

  
"Yeah? Awesome."

  
"I 'ave just had ze most marvelous idea." Fleur announced. "Zhis weekend is being ze Hogsmeade weekend. We four zhould all go togezher… for a little while at least…" she quickly corrected herself upon seeing Tom's grumpy look "and get to know one anozer, now that we are to be family!"

  
"Uh…" Harry said blankly.

  
Fleur pouted at Tom. "You did not tell him?"

  
"He's only just arrived!"

  
"Don't worry, sister, I still love you!" Gabrielle said sympathetically. She simply smiled like an angel when Fleur growled at her.

  
"Fleur and I are engaged." Tom was quick to step into the breach.

  
"Is there something in the water?" Harry asked Hermione bemusedly.

  
"It happened during the werewolf attack." Tom explained. Harry noted Fleur stiffened a tiny, tiny bit and elbowed Tom out of her sight.

  
It took Tom only a moment to catch on. "Which of course simply sped up something that was likely to happen regardless."

  
Fleur beamed at him and glomped on to his arm.

  
"Congratulations. Werewolf attack?"

  
"Did no one tell you?"

  
"I was asleep or unconscious most of the time I was gone, but yeah, you'd think someone would mention something like that."

  
"It was Fenrir Greyback and his band of loonies." Neville answered. "Good to have you back, Harry."

  
"It's good to be back. Greyback, huh? The guy that bit Remus?"

  
"And most of the other werewolves in Britain." Neville agreed.

The rest of the lunch hour was spent regaling him with what happened that day and afterwards.

  
"It just figures. You all get to charge mightily into battle, while I got carried off like a damsel in distress in the first act. How embarrassing."

  
"Not at all mate. You make a lovely princess." Ron told him with a grin, which set Dean and Seamus to laughing and calling him "your highness" for the rest of the afternoon.

  
"Yes, yes, you're all hilarious. Come on, Harry. You've a lot of work to do." Hermione sighed.

  
"Don't remind me. I'm half afraid to see how behind I am after missing three days."

 

 

 

"This sucks. I didn't get to the Garden all week because I was trying to get caught up on things, and then yesterday because it was Hogsmeade weekend." Harry complained to Neville as they headed to the aforementioned place.

  
"You're going now."

  
"We're going to be busy swearing-in Fleur." Harry grumbled.

  
"Oh, right. I'm still kind of surprised you agreed. I thought we weren't bringing anyone else in."

  
"I wasn't planning to, but Tom kind of had a point. She's going to be living with us this summer, she'll probably be working in some capacity for the corporation while he's in school next year and then they're getting married. It would have been kind of awkward trying to keep everything a secret from her."

  
"Yeah, he does have a point. Is Viktor getting sworn in too?"

  
"No, he's got quidditch and he'll be off playing games all year. There's no reason to bring him in."

  
"You know, even with bringing in Fleur today we're going to have stuff going on. We've been holding off on the lunar probe until you could join us again."

  
"Yeah? That was nice of you… though I suppose really you should have just gone ahead with things."

  
"We figured you'd be upset."

  
"I probably would have been a bit irritated, yeah, but that's not a good enough reason. We're all in this together and trying to move ahead with things. Me not being there for a part of it shouldn't bring everything screeching to a halt, though I am sort of selfishly glad you all waited."

  
They stepped out of the cabinet into the conference room and found Tom and Fleur and half a dozen Garden members already there, lined up and waiting their turn for the pinkie swear. Fleur was already looking frustrated. Harry debated leaving, but then decided he'd best get things over with now rather than having it hanging over his head. He popped into line behind Terrance and waited his turn, Neville right behind him. They were just in time too as another bunch arrived to take their place in line right afterwards.

  
"'ow many times am I meant to do zhis thing?" Fleur pouted when she saw how many people were still waiting.

  
"I hate to break it to you, but you're just getting started." Sally-Anne told her sympathetically as she took her turn.

 

Harry and Neville headed for the "large conference room"--basically the room with the stage where they'd held the new member orientation, that now doubled as the viewing room for the SHIELD academy in a globe. The training room was now filled with a swamp, platforms at different levels, a small forest and a swaying rope bridge and could no longer be used for other purposes.

  
Those who had already finished the pinkie swear with Fleur were there already. The galaxy in a globe had been set up and the moon hung in the center in all its glory, taking up the whole center of the room. Up on the stage, two very large mirrors had been hung up. In one they could see the communications group, who would be functioning as mission control. In the other, Sirius and Barty could be seen passing in and out of the view. Penny and the Hendricks brothers were there too, talking quietly next to a long table upon which stood a squid that was crouched oddly at the end.

  
"That the probe?"

  
"Yeah. It's actually the first real prototype ship. The improved scanners and the second set of specs we took from ships on Knowhere were a lot better. If this test goes well, it will be a ship like that one that will be heading out to the asteroid field."

  
"Yeah? Damn, I missed a lot, didn't I?"

  
"They've been working on it for a while now based on the first scans we got. They tweaked everything when the better scans came through. That's why we're only getting to the probe now."

  
"It took as long as it needed to take. That's a real, working ship though? One they think could transport people?"

  
"Yep. Apparently they've been making plans and adding to them all along, they just didn't build anything till now."

  
"Brilliant. We're really getting there, aren't we?"

  
"That's what we're hoping. I guess we'll see."

 

 

** SHIELD Briefing room: **

"They call themselves the "People's Liberation Front". That's a fancy way of saying terrorist, make no mistakes about that. Up until now they've been a minor nuisance at best, but they've decided to step up into the big leagues."

  
"What did they do? I didn't hear of any recent massacres."

  
"They were apparently were stockpiling oil for years. The U.S. seized control of most of the oil fields in the region during the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, and have had a world embargo on oil for a few months now. Unfortunately, because of these assholes, the embargo hasn't been working. There's been a steady flow of oil since the embargo went into place, which means the PLF is the one benefitting from the rising prices rather than yours truly. What's more, enough oil has flooded the market that the PLF has recently become a very well-funded terrorist cell indeed. They haven't had much in the way of arms or munitions up until this point, though they'll be doing their best to change that now that they have funding. They seem to have acquired someone with some technological savvy recently. We had a hell of a time connecting the oil to them. In fact, after a year's investigation, we've only been able to definitively connect them to one transaction. The oil seems to come out of nowhere, all over the world, all of it connected to a small defunct oil well in the middle of nowhere. The money trail can only be followed so far and then seems to vanish into thin air. Whoever did this, they're good. We can only hope they're on-site when we strike. We can't allow that kind of know-how in the hands of our enemies."

  
The captain tapped a screen, revealing several satellite photos of a desert encampment: a few small buildings and dusty trucks, some tents, and some camels. At the center, in the most protected spot, a covered well.  
Groups of men with assault rifles could be seen here and there, a few on guard on the edges of the camp. In the center, among the tents, a few women and children could be seen.

  
"Nothing escapes alive. Not even the smallest mouse."

  
"Sir…"

  
"You have a problem, soldier? You think any one of those cunts wouldn't happily slit your throat, or strap on a t-n-t vest and blow up your town and everyone in it? You think those rugrats haven't been indoctrinated since they were sucking their mama's tits? You might think it mercy, but any one of those radicals that makes it out alive is just the seed for a new infection. Kill them all, and let God sort 'em out. You have your orders. MOVE OUT!"

  
"SIR YES SIR!"

 

 

 

_**Park bench, Washington DC.** _

"Sir, the STRIKE teams just left."

  
"Good. If all goes well, those troublesome gnats should be well-swatted by this afternoon. The others?" Director Pierce asked idly as he finished his hot dog.

  
"We had teams hit all the businesses that have helped distribute their oil. The top guys are in interrogation, the rest were eliminated. Their records and equipment were seized."

  
"Good. We can't have a band of gnats going around thinking they can play with the big boys. The oil?"

  
"It was diverted from the rest. It should be halfway to South America by now."

  
"Excellent. It will come in handy once prices start rising, which they will, now that our embargo can take proper effect. Honestly, the nerve of those PLF idiots, cutting in our schemes like this. Oh well, live and learn… Although, I suppose in their case it would be learn and die." Pierce concluded with a sunny smile.

"Still…it's strange a fringe group like that managed to cobble together such a far-flung network in such a short time. All our best intel had them as a non-issue. They're anti-technology--except for trucks and guns, apparently, anti-capitalist. They live in the middle of nowhere in tents, and get by with subsistence farming, small game hunting and harvesting edible fungi from a nearby cave system. They have at most two dozen soldiers and twice that number in women and small children. They don't have phones let alone any kind of satellite hook-up that we've been able to find, so how on earth did they create this network? Even Zola had a hard time putting the pieces together. It's troubling, to say the least. Oh well, I'm sure the fellows we've seized will tell us the answers soon enough. The folks in interrogation really enjoy what they do." He finished his hot dog with relish and smacked his lips. "Ah, crushing one's enemies really is the best seasoning."

  
**"Hail Hydra"**  
_"Hail Hydra."_

 

 

**Department of Mysteries, London:**

"Ma'am. I think you should see this."

  
Alcmene Lovegood, head Unspeakable, took the stack of papers and flipped through them quickly, her eyes scanning and taking in everything. She looked ill by the time she set it down.

  
"Why have the muggles done this?"

  
"As near as we were able to ascertain, it's because of the petroleum the children's corporation has been selling to them."

  
"They killed eight hundred people for that?!"

  
"One of the groups that got hold of some of the oil was on one of their terror watch-lists. They seem to have decided it was them who was responsible for it. They sent a team to completely eradicate their camp and everyone in it. All of these people" he indicated the report "were simply unlucky enough to work for companies that the petroleum passed through."

  
"They're completely insane." Lovegood said with horror. She pulled herself together after a moment and summoned Unspeakable Bode.

  
"You called?" he asked when he arrived.

  
"How close are you to taking out Zola?"

  
"Very close. We need to work on our timing a bit more. We have to all take out our targets at the same time to eliminate any chance of him escaping and setting up copies of himself all over the muggles' internet."

  
"Get working on that then. Everything else can wait. Eliminating Zola is your top priority. "

  
"Did something happen?" Bode wondered.

  
Madame Lovegood indicated the report with a wave of her hand and turned to begin pacing behind her desk.

  
"This is…"

  
"I know." she agreed curtly.

  
"There was no way any of us could have known this would happen." Bode added more gently, completely understanding the guilt she felt over the whole matter.

  
"I know. We all thought it was safe enough. The goblins understand the system well enough to make everything appear on the up and up and leave no obvious red flags. Oil and its byproducts are so in demand by muggles it seemed an ideal solution all around. Jobs, money and secrecy. It seemed too good to be true. We should have known nothing is ever so simple where muggles are concerned… but this. The amount of oil we've put on the market is miniscule compared to the total out there. Who knew they would react with such madness to such a small bit not under their direct control? We bear some responsibility for all those poor people that have been slaughtered, however slight. The only thing we can do to avenge them is to do our part to eliminate the people who did this. Without Zola coordinating their movements and hiding them in plain sight, the rest of SHIELD should soon notice the enemy in their midst."

  
"And if all goes well, SHIELD will emerge triumphant." Bode agreed.

  
Lovegood frowned and pursed her lips uneasily. "If we're truly lucky, they'll eliminate one another. Make no mistake, for all that SHIELD is nominally HYDRA's enemy, the two organizations are cut from much the same cloth. This whole business is a perfect case in point." she gestured to the report again. "SHIELD aimed for the 'terrorists', HYDRA aimed for the supply chain. Their answer in both cases was to 'kill everyone and leave nothing behind'. The only real difference in the two of them is that SHIELD is a bit more discriminating about their targets. No, the best outcome for us is if they're kept busy for a few years killing each other off. If nothing else, let us hope it goes on long enough to keep them distracted while the children finish their project."

  
"Speaking of the children, what are they up to lately?"

 

 

**The Garden: Big Conference Room**

"We about ready?" Draco asked, sounding bored.

  
"Soon." Millicent scolded. Up on the wall, in the mirror showing the deep space simulation room, Crabbe and Goyle suddenly walked into view.

  
"What are Greg and Vince doing there?" Pansy wondered.

  
"I'm not sure. They've been working on a secret project. They said if we were going to do this we'd best do it all proper like."

  
"What do they mean by that?"

  
"I guess we'll see."

  
As they watched, Vince set the box he was carrying down on the end of the table and opened it. A huge crowd of action figures began marching out. Unlike the miners, these figures came in all shapes and sizes--from several old folks with white or grey hair, some with canes, down to tiny babies held in the arms of some of the other figures. Many of them were carrying things as well.

  
The figures marched out until they formed a crowd down one side of the table, between the box they'd arrived in and the ship. Two of them in the back of the crowd unrolled a banner, which they then held up that said "REACH FOR THE STARS!". Other figures peppered throughout the crowd had smaller signs that said "GOOD LUCK" or "WE'LL MISS YOU, DAD".

  
In front of the crowd, a few figures with video cameras seemed to be filming everything. There was even a figure with a tiny microphone that seemed to be doing a news broadcast.

  
Greg moved into place and opened his box. A tiny marching band came out, and set themselves up down the other side of the table. There was even a color guard-- the flag of the British Magical world, a Hogwarts flag, one for the Explorer's Club, and one of a squid swimming through a sea of stars for the space program.

  
Once they were all in place and waiting, Vince and Greg opened up a last box. Figures in orange that said 'STAFF' on their backs came out first, driving some odd vehicles.

  
"Lunar rovers. Penny, Barty and the Hendricks brothers made them." Neville explained to Harry, who was watching the whole thing with bemused fascination.

The vehicles were driven into the 'elevator' that was sticking out of the bottom of the crouched squid and disappeared inside.

  
The cheering crowd grew louder and the video cameras and the reporter all turned their sights on the box, from which one last vehicle was emerging. It was a small lorry filled with astronauts, driven by yet another staff member. The astronauts were standing in the back, so they could wave to the crowd and the cameras. They were taken to the ship, from which the staff was now emerging. The staff gave them all a thumbs up and took their places in the lorry. The astronauts waved to their families and the crowd, who were now waving hankies. Some of them seemed to be crying, or at least pretending to.

  
"You have some words of encouragement, chief?" Vince suddenly asked. Harry looked up and realized he, the action figures, and the whole Garden were now watching him expectantly.

  
"Um, sure, uh…. Today is the culmination of months and years of hard work, dedication and research. Every one of us should be justly proud of all we've accomplished in such a short time. As you fly to the moon, know that you carry all our hopes and dreams with you. Make us proud, boys."

  
The astronauts saluted, the crowd cheered, the band played a cheery march to follow them as they marched onto the ship and disappeared inside.

 

" _All personnel please take your positions.  This is Mission Control. Base 1 do you copy?"_  
"Loud and clear."  
_"Base 2, do you copy?"_  
"Ditto."

The ship straightened and rose slowly from the table, then began to fly into the simulation room.

 _"Base 1, can you confirm?"_  
"Cassiopeia 1 is in position."  
_"Copy that. Base two?"_  
"We are in position, eyes peeled. Ready when you are."  
_"Affirmative. Base 1 and Base 2 are ready and waiting."_

  
_"System check completed. All systems are go."_

  
_"Liftoff will commence in five minutes."_

  
All eyes were on the giant, synchronized clocks at each position as they began counting down the time. As the minutes trickled away, the air in all three locations grew heavy with anticipation.

  
"…10…9…"

  
In twos and threes the rest joined the final countdown.

  
"8…7…"

  
"6…5…4…"

  
"3…2…1…!"

  
**"WE HAVE LIFTOFF!"**

  
_"Time in transit estimated at six minutes and counting…"_

  
"Oh, goodness. This is so nerve wracking." Hannah gasped.

  
"Please be alright. Please be alright. Please be alright." Susan prayed beside her.

  
_"Five minutes and counting."_

  
"You think the guys are alright?" Vince asked Greg worriedly.

  
"Yeah. Yeah, they're fine. They've been training for this after all. They know what they have to do." Greg replied, trying to sound confident.

  
_"Four minutes and counting."_

  
"Please be alright…" Justin and Dennis joined Susan's prayers.

  
Around the room, kids wiped sweaty palms on their robes, tried to ease the painful tension in their necks, and waited.

  
_"Transition ending in 10…9…8…"_

  
"Oh no! Everyone in position!" Neville ordered.

  
_"7…6…5…4…"_

  
"Does everyone have a good view?" Tom demanded.

  
_"3…2…1!"_

  
"Where….?"  
"I don't see anything!"  
"We should have made the view bigger…"

  
"There! There!" Millicent pointed.

  
"I see it!" Draco yelled right after.

  
"Quick, pull the view in!" Hermione cried.

  
"Not so fast! We'll lose her again!" Ron growled.

  
"Oh! Look at her go!" Barty said, sounding reverent.

  
"Come on!"

"You can do it!" the twins cheered.

  
"How long is this part going to take?" Neville asked Harry quietly.

  
"Dunno. An hour or two, maybe? Might be longer. I'm not sure." Harry shrugged.  "It will take as long as it takes."

  
"Well, yeah, I know that…but geez! All this tension is really getting to me, you know?" 

  
"Be glad we're not muggles. This part takes them like, three days or something." Harry laughed.

  
"Three days?! Damn. They must have nerves of steel."

  
"Tell me about it. I'd be a limp noodle if I had to feel like this for three days!" Ron said with horror.

  
"Eh, they're not used to instant gratification. They probably dealt with this part better than we are."

 

Department of Mysteries: London

"This is actually kind of exciting."  
"Yeah. I wish we had popcorn."  
"Why on earth did they give the action figures families?"  
"They're kids… and it kind of helps bring home how much is at stake, I guess."  
"It's still a bit concerning. The miners are all watching in interest, but they're jealous, by the look of things. The one's "parents" look ready to keel over from all the stress. The baby hasn't stop crying since the ship left!"  
"They really went all out, didn't they? I guess we shouldn't be surprised with this bunch."

  
_"Lunar orbit synchronization has been achieved…"_

  
"Oho. Hear that? Things just got real."  
"Let's hope they practiced enough."

 

 

**The Garden: Big Conference Room**

_"Beginning landing sequence in 3…2…1…"_  
"Come on! You can do it!"  
"That's it! Just a little bit more…"  
"Ease up…not too fast now…"  
"Come on… Just like we practiced…"  
"Come on…"  
"You can do it…"

  
_**"The eagle has landed."**_

 

There was a moment of profound, ringing silence as Cassiopeia I landed with a soft 'poof' and briefly stirred a bit of the moon dust on the surface. 

 

**"WE DID IT!"**   
**"WOOHOO!"**   
**"HA! TAKE THAT, MUGGLES!"**   
**"WE DID IT WE DID IT WE DID IT!"**   
**"YEAH!"**   
**"WE DID IT WE DID IT WE DID IT!"**

 

There were both smiles and tears in evidence on everyone's faces as they reached the first major milestone after months and years of dedicated work. The Hufflepuffs started a group hug. Everyone was so excited, that even the Slytherins joined in without rolling their eyes too much.

  
"Hey. Something's happening to the ship." Colin pointed.

  
"What eez eet doing?" Fleur asked. She still seemed slightly stunned from learning what they'd all really been up to all this time, but was quickly regaining her equilibrium as she got swept up in the excitement.

  
"You'll see."  
"Yeah. We figured the muggles got moon rocks and stuff, right? Well, it seemed a waste to go all the way to the moon and not get some for us." Vince and Greg answered proudly.

  
"That and we wanted a photo op. Oi, Creevey, you've got your camera, right?"

  
"'course he does. He probably sleeps with it." Seamus scoffed.

  
"Not all the time." Colin answered defensively.

  
"Here they go. Get ready."

  
The three action figures that had exited the ship assembled the thing they carried with them and dug it down into the dusty soil of the moon after unfurling it.

  
"They took a little Hogwarts flag with them!" Pansy cooed.

  
The figures lined up and saluted. Colin's camera was already flashing.

 

 

 **"Well done, children."**  
"LOKI!"

  
"You're here?"

  
"Projecting. I'm actually on Asgard at the moment, but of course. I wouldn't miss this. You've done well to come so far in such a short amount of time. I'm impressed, and I don't say that easily."

  
"Thanks."

  
"You do realize this is only the first step, I hope?"

  
"Believe me, we're all too aware." Tom sighed.

  
"Don't go raining on our parade. We did good…and we're going to get some bonus moon rocks. Good work, Vince, Greg!" the two named beamed at them. "Now we just have to get spring planting underway, roll out the train service, get the mining operation underway, start building a space station… and start making plans to try a trial run with the Biospheres group's terraforming bombs."

  
"Really? We can do it?" Neville asked in surprise.

  
"Yeah, why not? We have to try it out sometime. It will take a while for things to really get started, so the sooner we get started the better. Hey, maybe when we graduate we can have a group trip and live on the space station for the summer so we can keep an eye on things at close distance or something! That would be cool…"

  
"Get your mining operation underway and then open it to the rest of your world. Don't get too far ahead of yourselves. Unless your long-term plans have changed, your ultimate goal is still to get your people off Midgard, correct?"

  
"Yeah. That hasn't changed."

  
"Well then, you would be best served at this point to opening things up. The majority of you will be doing your OWLs and NEWTs next year. You're going to be too busy to devote as much time to things as you have been. Do what you can this summer, and then it's time to tell the world, unless you want to be set back a year because of your schooling."

  
"So…no terraforming bombs?" Neville said with disappointment.

  
"If we can get things set up before summer's end…though even if we do that, from the moment we open things up it's going to start sliding out of our hands. Loki's right, after all, most of us are going to be pretty busy next year. That doesn't mean we're out of the game though. We have our own plans, after all, and who knows how long it will take the entire wizarding world to get their acts together and start working on this? For now, just focus on what we can accomplish from here until the end of summer. The future will take care of itself."

  
"Enough about all that for now! Today was a victory for all involved! It's time to celebrate!" Sirius announced as he strode out of the cabinet that had just appeared in their midst. Penny, the Hendricks' and Barty followed shortly after, and soon after that long tables laden with snack food and butterbeer began appearing. In the center a tower of champagne glasses filled with champagne appeared, which Penny began handing out.

  
**"To Victory and to the Future!"**

  
**"Hear, Hear!"**

  
As the Explorer's Club toasted their success, in the center of the room, still visible, the lunar crew carefully chugged around the small crater they'd landed in, acquiring small moon rocks and dust samples to bring home with them.

 

 

 

 

As spring approached, a cabinet appeared in the biospheres department, so the folks there could start traversing between the Garden and Headquarters on weekends to ready the vertical farms for planting. Naturally there was a hue and cry from the rest of the working groups, who all wanted to see the finished headquarters as well.  
When Saturday came, the whole group went through one at a time. Sirius and Barty seemed unsurprised to see them all.

  
"Welcome to headquarters, kiddies! Who wants the grand tour?"

  
"Dumb question. We all do."

  
"Where are we now?"

  
"Right now we're in one of many spaces that will be your workrooms this summer and once you graduate. This one is actually for the mining group. It's empty because, unlike everyone else you didn't really specify what you wanted done with it. If you figure that out, send us something to work off and we'll see what we can do. That door there leads to a lift that leads up to the grounds, where there's a metalworking shop. We were going to stick it down here, but there's better ventilation up there. That door there leads to the hall, so come along."

  
Everyone eagerly followed them into the hall. It curved out of sight to either side.

  
Sirius led them to the right first, where the biospheres research department's offices were. They were the first section in the row. There was separate sections for the plant and animal divisions, and in the center a lift that went topside so they could tend their vertical farms and have access to the biodome they were going to be setting up.

Next in line was Tom's extreme and internal environments workshop which was set up much like his office at Hogwarts was: wide open space with long tables running the length of the walls on all sides, test chambers built into the walls above them, and a large table in the center so he could work on multiple projects at once.

The enchanter's group was right next door, and everyone cheered at seeing their office plan come to life. It looked like a blue sky filled with clouds…which were filled with office furniture…floating overhead. The bottom floor was laid out much as their office at Hogwarts was, with several long tables to work various projects.

The next office was the empty mining group office.

Across the hall from all of them was communications, which had the sleek modern design they'd asked for, with cubicles for each of them, an office that looked out over the room for Lee, and a separate room with a long tables to work on new things, and one to hold department meetings.

Next to it was the art department, which was filled with light that could be adjusted in color, intensity and direction. It was a large open space with offices around the edges for the members and dedicated workspaces for different types of art projects set throughout the room. A photo studio with dark room and file room for photographs for Colin, various easels and drawing boards and even a sculpture studio for the rest of them, as well as several large storerooms and supply cabinets.

After letting everyone look around, Sirius led them to a door between communications and the art department which led into a large lift. The first stop opened on to a large training room. It had targets (both stationary and moving) on one side, and a large open space for weapons and hand to hand combat training on the other. At the far end was a men's and women's locker room.

  
The second stop, which let them out in what obviously used to be the minister's box, was mission control.

 

Mission control was about as large as communications and the art department put together. On the one side was stadium seating which started level with where they came in. In front of it was a wide open space with different tables and desks that were obviously intended for computers, as well as several chairs. The wall directly across from them was another force field, that went from floor level to ceiling and looked out over a deep space void filled with floating asteroids.

  
"That's…wow."

  
"It has to be three times the size of the deep space simulator we have now!"

  
"Oh it's a whole lot bigger than that. Nearly the size of a professional quidditch pitch, in fact. Not exactly the size--some of the field space was taken up by factory spaces we set up around the outer edges and the administrative offices, but almost as big."

  
"Wow."

  
"I was thinking about space stations and building the full-sized ship, and also getting everyone comfortable with deep space. It seemed like a good idea to have a really big, robust simulation room for the future. The one we have now works fine when everything is miniature, but for anything people sized not so much."

  
"It's amazing."

  
Sirius led them to ground level-all the Garden's work spaces were actually underground, except for the deep space simulator, which was of course in the center of the 'stadium'.

At ground level they inspected the forge/metalworking shop, as well as the massive biodome that was being built off the back end of the stadium. What had been the sides of the stadium were now covered in vertical farming modules.  Inside, the outer edges of the stadium, surrounding the deep space simulator, which could only be accessed from R & D, had been converted to factory spaces. The large one that took up one whole side on the ground floor was where they'd been making the trains they'd be rolling out soon. On the floor above it they had made the ticketing, scheduling and passport systems that were to be installed in each of the train stations, as well as the guidance systems that went in the stations and the trains themselves.

On the other side universal translators and some of Fred and George's products were being produced in bulk on the ground floor, and on the upper level production on Tom's air filters and 'remove muggle toxins' screens was rolling out. The sorting, cleaning, paint removing and smelting machinery that was collecting cans from all over Britain and rendering it into aerospace grade aluminum blocks for sale had been moved there as well. There were still a few more work spaces available should they decide to produce anything else.

  
Finally they were taken to the front of the stadium where the new administrative offices were. There was a large lobby when you came in the front doors. A lift to either side of the back of the room took you to the upper floors.

The next level had a large conference room and two smaller ones. The smaller ones were just a large table surrounded by chairs. The large one had stadium seating and a stage and large screen at the front.

There was an accounting department with an office for Mr. Nott, an office for Lucius, who was, it seemed 'Head of Investments and Sales' now. There was an office for Barty-- "Research and Development, Products and Investments" and for Remus "Research and Development - Special Projects".

The next floor held Sirius' office, which said simply "Sirius Black, CEO" and underneath in slightly smaller letters "Penelope Clearwater - Executive Administrative Assistant".

The door led in to Penny's office, which had a fancy wooden desk and comfy leather high-backed office chair. There were matching wooden bookcases covering the back walls, and to the side stood a door to a private bathroom. Since the front of the office was glass fronted, she had a view of outside through the glass front of the admin offices. On the desk stood an inbox and a computer setup. She was obviously keeping close track of what everyone was up to, and Harry knew the communications group had made several programs just for her, to handle scheduling and such.

After looking around a bit they headed in to Sirius' office. There were windows on two sides of the room, giving him a commanding view of the grounds. He had a large, ornate desk that looked like a pricey antique, with a big, high backed, comfy looking leather chair behind it. In front of the desk were two slightly less-comfy looking chairs. There was a wet bar, two love seats and four chairs grouped for easy conversation on the other side of the room. A rug so thick that you bounced slightly while walking on it covered the floor. Along the back wall were some bookcases, filled with books. In open spaces between sets of books were photos. There was a group shot of the whole Garden group, a family portrait taken one Christmas of himself, Harry, Tom, Barty, Remus, and Loki. Another was just of Tom and Harry. One was of James and Lily Potter, probably fresh out of Hogwarts. One of the Marauders--all four of them, surprisingly enough. The mind healers really had done great things for him. The last was a family portrait from when Sirius was a child, showing himself, his brother, his cousins Bellatrix, Narcissa and Andromeda, his aunts, uncles, and grandparents. A door in the middle of the wall led to his private bathroom: a showy thing with full facilities and a dressing room to round out the opulence.

  
"My god. This hardly seems real. To think, just a few short years ago we were just a couple of first and second years hanging out in an unused room in the castle…and look at us now." Harry laughed.

  
"Pretty sweet, isn't it?" Sirius agreed smugly.

  
"Is this everything?"

  
"Ah…hmm…oh. I didn't take all of you to see the cafeteria. It's behind the lobby so it's kind of halfway for the folks in both sides in the manufacturing divisions."

  
"This is amazing. I can hardly believe it." Hermione said.

  
"You know…after we get the farms started, we should think about landscaping the grounds. Maybe an artificial pond…or a reflecting pool. That would look nice right out front. Some flowers and a few trees scattered here and there…not too many. We need plenty of sunlight for the farm. Maybe a gazebo? That might be nice. Give folks a place to eat outside when it's nice…" Neville mused, staring out the window.

  
"Sounds great…but let's wait until the trains and the night clubs start bringing in revenue before we add any more building projects. Even with the money we saved by using the stadium as the basis, this place still cost us a pretty penny to put together." Sirius cut him off, sounding pained.

 

 

Everyone was really busy after that for the next few weeks. All hands were on deck to help get all the vegetables planted in their proper conditions. Adrien Pucey, who was one of the upper years added to communications had designed a program to keep track of planting and harvesting times for all sorts of vegetables, fruits and berries. A map of the vertical farms was added, which allowed you to see what was planted where, the progress of its growth, special notes on care, a calendar showing who tended it, what they did and when. When harvest time came, alarms would sound to alert the farming employees so they could grab up what they'd grown before it spoiled or was just too long on the vine.

The adults in the company, meanwhile, busied themselves overseeing the live tests on the trains and the progress of the nightclubs, in between meetings to finalize standards for passports for the participating nations, and training the station employees on how to use the equipment.

  
The art department was also kept busy between designing a landscaping layout for the grounds and a design for the mining group's workroom.

Even with all that going on, the space program was never far from anyone's minds. Yes, they had made it successfully to the moon, but the asteroid field was a whole lot further away, and the action figures would be doing a lot more than just collecting a few rocks and posing for pictures.

  
Cedric had finally had some breakthroughs with designing a programming language. It was still rather rough, but would do what they needed it to, or so they hoped.

  
A task force was put together to try to think of different things that could go wrong and work out a protocol to deal with it, so that should disaster strike, whoever was monitoring things at the moment could just pull up a ready-made program that covered the basics that could just be loaded up and tweaked as the situation demanded. It was a little worrisome how many disaster scenarios they could think up, but it made them feel better to have at least the rough outline of a plan to deal with it should the problem arise.

  
All this productivity began to wane as the countdown to the end of year began. The teachers, as they normally did, started piling on homework and pop quizzes and revision sessions to get everyone prepared for the exams at the end of year.

  
Tom, the brat, lorded it over the rest of them rather smugly that he was exempt from end of year exams by virtue of being a champion, and as he was a sixth year, not a seventh as Fleur and Viktor were, he didn't have to worry about NEWTs either.

  
With so much going on, the remaining weeks flew by.

The champions were briefed on the final task, which would be taking place June 24th at dusk. The quidditch pitch currently had a hedge maze growing on it. The final task, much as Luna had surmised, was a race--the champions versus one another and the monsters in the maze. The first to reach the cup won.  
They were all assured there would be no hostages this time.

 

 

**Department of Mysteries: London**

"Well?"

  
"We've finished our training. We're ready to strike." Unspeakable Bode said confidently.

  
"Good. Be ready to move on the 24th at dusk. Everyone's eyes will be on the tournament. That should keep the children from seeing anything they shouldn't and trying to interfere."

  
"Excellent. Arnim Zola's days are numbered. It's about time. HYDRA never would have become as entrenched as they are if we had taken care of that abomination years ago."

  
"I agree, but we were too chained by our oaths and secrecy to do so. We're acting now. That's all that's important. You know what to do. Be ready to move out."

  
"Will do. I do have another concern."

  
"Oh?"

  
"Once we move, if Pierce starts getting nervous as things unravel, you know he'll bring out the Winter Soldier to eliminate anyone who even suspects his connection to HYDRA. We never did come to a consensus on whether or not the enhancements he underwent would allow him to find our hidden places. He was never out for long before--he always had one specific target to aim for. That won't be the case this time if what I fear will happen happens."

  
"I know, and I agree, it's a risk. I've already taken steps to muddy the waters a bit should that happen. We'll have to keep an eye on things."

  
"I don't understand. Muddy the waters how?"

  
Head Unspeakable Lovegood sighed. "A scientific research outpost found something strange buried in the ice."

  
"Buried in the… you don't mean…"

  
"Yes. He's probably in SHIELD's custody already."

  
"Was that wise?"

  
"Wise? No, probably not. I do believe it was necessary. I guess we'll see."

  
"Won't he just kill him?"

  
"There was always the possibility Pierce would do just that." Lovegood admitted. "But I thought it a slim enough chance that I wasn't too worried."  

When she saw Bode still looked concerned, she decided to explain.

"Pierce is arrogant--a child of privilege who has never not gotten something he wanted when he wanted it.  A man like that… Even if it would be far wiser, from a strategic point of view, to eliminate the threat before it became a problem… Pierce will be too tickled at the thought of him being owned and sent on missions, by the very people he was made to destroy, to do so. If anything he'll keep him close to hand, like a favorite toy or pet, and lavish him with luxury, just so he can have a front row seat to seeing him perform like a trained monkey on command. He won't be able to resist. He'll want to rub his possession in the face of the former Director as well. He's wary of her. Even with his privilege and wealth and an entire old boys' network at his fingertips, it still took him years to get into a position to oust her. She had none of that, and built SHIELD from the ground up to become what it is today. Even now, she's as respected as she is resented-- for making a place for herself where she was decidedly not welcome. It took him years, but he eventually managed to take away her life's work. To have _him_ in his grasp as well? To be able to dangle access to him in front of _her_ on top of it? That smug bastard probably thinks he's died and gone to heaven. No, he won't kill him…" she said confidently, before smiling like a shark that had just scented blood in the water.

"...and that's the mistake that will eventually lead to his downfall."


	10. The Third Task

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The school year comes to a close, as does the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Plans are made to begin opening up the space program to the rest of the wizarding world. The kids realize that their plans are more complicated than they realized.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long delays on these last few chapters. But, here we are, the final installment of part 3. It's been a wild ride. I hate to say it, but updates will continue to be sporadic from here on out--we've come to the end of the parts I already have written :(  
> I have one more day off before I have to return to work, and January is always a busy time for us, so I wouldn't expect part four to come up any earlier than the end of the month at the earliest--though hope springs eternal.  
> Everyone who has left comments or kudos, thank you! Keep the comments coming--it reminds me that there are real, actual people out there waiting for updates and keeps me from falling into lazy habits ; D  
> Without further ado, here's the last chapter of part 3!

"So, Third task today. Is everything ready for the stands?" Hermione wondered.

  
"Yeah. We just got the memory books back from the publisher too. Are the trophy cups ready?" Ron nodded.

  
"Yeah. They look pretty nice too. I just have to engrave their names before we give them to them, but that'll only take a few minutes. The gift baskets are all put together?" Harry asked.

  
"Sure are. they're just waiting for the cups and then we can seal them and put the bows on." Parvati replied.

  
"Sounds good."

  
"You know, it's a good thing we've been doing all this, or I might have forgotten about the third task with everything else that's been going on." Neville laughed.

  
"Tell me about it."

  
"I wish we were doing another launch." Lavender lamented.

  
"Yeah." Dean agreed.

  
"Me? I can't wait till the money starts rolling in." Seamus added, rubbing his hands together.

  
"You know why we're waiting. Once the task is over, it's exam week hell. Would you really be able to concentrate on your exams if you were worrying about the ship? I know I wouldn't. We're waiting till we get to HQ and that's that." Harry sighed.

Sometimes, being responsible was for the birds.

  
"It also gives us a chance to go over all the equipment with a fine tooth comb before we send the ship off again. The miners have been run through most of the disaster scenarios we thought up already. They're as ready as we can make them." Hermione added.

  
The kids quieted down as they saw Professor McGonagall headed their way. She came to a stop at their table and addressed two of their number.

  
"Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, if you would?"

  
"What's going on professor?" Hermione asked.

  
"The champions and their families are being given a chance to spend some time together before the final task commences. You'll find them through there." she pointed to the room off the back of the hall where the champions had gathered after being chosen back in October.

  
"I see. Thank you, professor." Hermione nodded.

  
After she left, Ron stared at Hermione puzzled.

  
"Why're you going? That's what I don't get."

  
"Idiot. She and Viktor are engaged, remember? It doesn't give her the same level of rights she'll have once they're married, but for stuff like this she'll automatically be included. Use your brain." Parvati huffed.

  
Hermione flushed and began looking nervous.

  
"Oh goodness… Viktor's parents! I'm not ready!"

  
"Relax, Hermione. I'm sure they'll love you." Lavender assured her. "You get good grades, and have a job already lined up for when you graduate. You don't even like quidditch, so you're obviously not a gold digger. And you're muggleborn, so you're obviously not too closely related for consideration. Also, Viktor fought a duel for you. If they care at all about what their son wants, that should go a long way towards warming them up towards you."

  
"Just be polite and be yourself. I'm sure it'll be fine." Parvati added bracingly.

  
Harry hit her with a calming charm just before they headed into the room. She glared at him, but there was no heat behind it.

  
"Relax, would you? You have your translator on?"

  
"Yes."

  
"Then go get 'em."

  
Harry glanced over at the Krums before moving to join his own family and Fleur's, which were gathered in a group at the other side of the room. Viktor looked a lot like his dad, who was equally large, burly and glowery and had a similar strong nose. Viktor's mother was a beauty, with fair skin and black hair. While the dad was in a fairly sober black suit that buttoned up to his collar with a black robe over it, his mum was rather colorful in contrast. She was dressed in a long skirt and vest with lots of bright embroidery, and had a colorful scarf over her head. Hermione straightened her shoulders and moved to join them. Harry left her to it.

  
His own group was a curious contrast of dark and light. Loki, Sigyn, Sirius, Tom and he himself all had black hair. Fleur, her sister and her mum were all platinum blonde, and their dad had light brown hair going to grey.

  
"There you are, kiddo. We were wondering…" Sirius greeted as he approached.

  
"Professor McGonagall just told us. We had no idea any of you were here. What are you all talking about?"

  
"Curly and Fleur's wedding. It's going to be held in France at their chateau next summer, in August, which should be _delightful_. It gets damn hot down there."

  
"Why not here? Grimmauld Place is certainly big enough."

  
"I offered, but one, it's usually the bride's family that hosts the wedding, and two, she wanted to hold it outside. We've got lots of space in the house, but the yard is dinky as you well know."

  
"Yeah, it is. Oh well. It could be fun. I've never been to France before." Harry shrugged.

  
"I'm sure it'll be lovely, but definitely buff up your cooling charms. Especially since you and tiny there are going to be in the wedding. You don't want to be sweating all over everything while you've got every eye on you."

  
"I'm going to be in the wedding? Doing what?"

  
"Best man, of course." Sirius scoffed.

  
"Am I allowed to?" Harry wondered.

  
"Why would anyone stop you? Or…do you not want to be?" Tom interjected, sounding a bit offended.

  
"I'd love to, don't be stupid. I don't know if it works differently here, but in the muggle world you have to be of age to be the witness in a wedding."

Seeing everyone's looks, he explained.

"My aunt had one of the neighbors over and she was complaining about her daughter's wedding. She wanted her younger sister to be maid of honor, but her sister was only going to be seventeen when the wedding happened. Muggles come of age at eighteen. She had three good friends that would all be of age, but she didn't want to offend any of them by picking one over the others, especially as the other two wouldn't even get to be bridesmaids since her fiancé only had two groomsmen. It was this whole big thing. The point is, if you have the wedding in August next year, I'll have just turned sixteen. I don't know when Gabrielle's birthday is, but chances are she'll be sixteen as well. If one or both of us has to be of age to be the witness, it isn't going to work."

  
"You know, he might have a point. At least one of the witnesses probably has to be of age." Sirius realized.

  
"If not Harry, my second choice would have been one of the twins…but there are two of them. I don't really want to pick one over the other. I suppose I could ask Lee, Bernard, Terrance or Cedric."

  
"Not Lee. If both your groomsmen are Gryffindors, I have a feeling your housemates are going to get irritable."

  
"True."

  
"I weel need a second bridesmaid eef you have two. You deed say you 'ad a seester."

  
"Ah, while I'm sure Hela would be touched to be asked, she would likely turn you down." Sigyn interjected.

  
"Indeed. Having the queen of the dead as one of the principles at your wedding would likely not give your relationship the best start." Loki apologized.

  
"Perhaps 'ermione weel agree?" Fleur mused, her gaze falling on the younger girl.

  
"Hey, you could ask Viktor. You two are friends, right? Even if you didn't invite him, he'd likely be there anyway as Hermione's date. He's already of age, so it won't matter that the rest of us aren't."

  
Tom and Fleur traded a look.

  
"Alright. We'll speak to them after the task is over."

 

 

  
"Watches synchronized?" Unspeakable Bode asked the rest of his team.  
"Aye."  
"Communications open? Sound off."  
"Rummstock"  
"Chen"  
"Voyetsky"  
"Lumier"  
"Everyone remembers their part?"  
"We 'ave been practicing for weeks now. We are ready. Let us get started."  
Bode studied each member of his team in turn, and received only solid looks of resolve in turn.  
"Solar flare team?"  
"Already on it.  You have sixteen minutes and counting."  
"Very well then. Let's move out!"  
All five hit themselves with a spell that would keep them from leaving fingerprints, blood, stray hairs, bits of dry skin or any other evidence behind at the scene. In a moment they were gone.

 

 

 

As dusk neared, the champions were called away to await their final trial as the rest of them began making their way to the stands surrounding the quidditch-pitch-turned-giant-hedge-maze. Harry spotted Hermione in the crowd and waved for her to join them. He had seen her with Viktor and his family earlier and she'd looked rather uncomfortable.

  
"Harry!  Loki and Sigyn went with Tom?"

  
"Yeah.  Viktor's parents too, I'm guessing?"

Hermione nodded and fell into step with him.

"So...What was all that earlier?"

  
His friend sighed and linked her arm with his.

"Viktor introduced me to his parents, they said hello and looked me up and down. His father muttered about me being too skinny and said that I didn't have _good child-bearing hips._ His mother sort of glared at me through most of lunch and afterwards. I'm certain she thinks I'm a gold-digging tart out to ruin her only son. I do believe she hated me on sight. While I don't think either of them particularly cared that I’m muggleborn, I got the feeling they didn't like the fact that my parents weren't involved…they seemed quite insulted when I told them my parents didn't even know yet when they offered to go meet them after the tournament. Can you imagine? They wanted me to give them their address! I could see that going over really well… This whole thing is just…"

  
"I'm sure it's not nearly as bad as you imagine." Harry tried to comfort her.  "But do you need me to go challenge Vicky to a duel and get you out of this?" he asked, kicking Sirius unobtrusively when he he made a strangled 'URK' beside him.

  
Hermione glanced at him in surprise before sighing pensively.

"All that would accomplish is that you and I would then be forced to get married, which really doesn't solve anything does it?"

  
"Hmmm, yeah. Alright then… maybe we should start training you up so you can beat him in a duel if it becomes necessary. You know, sort of symbolically take yourself back. I don't know if it will actually break the bond, but in theory it really should."

  
Hermione was quiet for a while, thinking things over. While she didn't think things were so bad that she needed to take a step like that, it was always best to have options. _Honestly!_ She was fifteen years old. There was no part of her life plan that had _'get surprise engaged and marry the first boy you seriously date at a young age'_ anywhere on it.

  
"I'll think about it. Even if I never use it as a possible out, having the option would probably make me feel better about things."

  
"That's what we'll do then."

 

As they headed up into the stands, joining the rest of the Garden kids who were already there, they could see the sprawling hedge maze more clearly. It covered the whole center of the field. There was a large screen covering each of the goal posts.

  
"I may not be on the team anymore, but I have to say, this hurts me on a deep, spiritual level." Harry remarked as they took their seats.

  
"It's blasphemy, is what it is." Ron agreed quite fervently.

  
They could see the champions being led out and given some last minute advice now. A hovering ball like had followed the champions into the lake was set near each of them and then they were each directed to pick an entrance to wait by. Viktor chose to park himself by the one in the center, leaving Tom and Fleur to pick one to either side of him. They could see all three of them tense up and look determined as the countdown began.

  
_**"…AND…GO!"**_ Ludo Bagman shouted.

  
Viktor was already running full out as the bang sounded from his wand.

Fleur dashed in as well, but after what happened with Gabrielle, most of her enjoyment in the tournament seemed to have been lost. At this point, she just wanted to survive and not embarrass herself.

Tom, in contrast to both of them strolled in to his doorway and began ambling down the pathway. He seemed to be concentrating, and then checking something off a mental list. He held out his wand and shouted something and then looked at his watch and seemed to be listening.

Viktor nearly crashed into his first obstacle--a twelve foot tall, massive troll with a club near as big as he was. The troll looked like he was already annoyed _before_ a small human bounced off one of his legs. He roared and brandished his club before trying his earnest best to smash him.

Hermione shuddered and grabbed Ron and Harry's wrists. She could remember being trapped in the bathroom all too well.

Fleur had run into trouble as well. She seemed to have hit a localized spell as she began stumbling around confused for a moment and seemed to be trying to swim into the air.

  
"Confundus, I'll bet. It looks like she doesn't know up from down." Sirius noted.

  
Tom was still ambling along.

A large buffalo-looking thing with long horns and a hump on its back came charging at him when it spotted him. Tom sighed shot a spell at the ground beneath its feet, which lifted slightly, spun till the thing was facing the other way and then landed again. The buffalo thing seemed confused as to where its prey had gone, but it kept charging angrily in the direction it was already facing, and disappeared around a corner.

Meanwhile, Tom had hacked off a sizeable hunk of the nearest hedge and seemed to be busy transfiguring it and then charming it up.

  
Fleur escaped the spell she was trapped in and continued on, only to run into a horrible shelled monstrosity that looked like a cross between a lobster and a slug. It had pincers near its mouth that looked venomous, and fire kept shooting out of its other end. It also seemed to be magic resistant, as Fleur discovered to her consternation.

  
"Good lord. What is that?" Sirius said with some disgust.

  
"I can actually answer that." Ron admitted. "Hagrid bred them. It's a cross between a manticore and a fire crab. There used to be a whole bunch of them, but they ate each other. That thing is the only one left. He calls 'em blast-ended Skrewts."

  
"I'd like to say that suprises me, but considering it's Hagrid it really doesn't."  
  
Viktor, after trying several alternatives, remembered Hermione explaining how Ron had defeated a troll as a first year. He levitated its club and brained it a few times, jumping back out of the way when it nearly landed on him. Running across the fallen troll's back, he was soon on his way again.

He ran into a hidden spell much like Fleur did, which seemed to make him move very slowly.

Fleur managed to subdue the lobster thing and crept along, more wary now, and already looking a bit worse for wear.

  
Tom seemed to finally finish whatever he'd been doing, as he suddenly rose slowly but steadily over the hedge he'd been hidden behind.

  
"I don't believe it. He made himself a broom!" Harry laughed.

Their whole section started clapping and cheering as he made his slow but steady way across the top of the maze towards the center.

Viktor was cutting himself out of a thorny, venomous vine that had crept up on him while he'd been stuck in one place, and Fleur was trying to fend off the troll she'd encountered.

The thing hadn't attacked her…well, not in _anger_ , anyway.

At the moment she seemed to be trying to lose him in the maze, as he'd obviously fallen prey to her veela allure.

By the look of it, he was trying to show off what a big club he had and was grunting whatever the troll equivalent to _'I'm the Minister of Magic'_ was.

Tom wobbled down into the center of the maze, and then reappeared at the front, cup in hand, near all the judges as a fountain of colored lights began shooting out of the center of the maze.

  
_**"INCREDIBLE! TOM RIDDLE OF HOGWARTS IS THE NEW TRI-WIZARD CHAMPION!"** _

  
"How'd he get over there?"

  
"The cup must've been a portkey."

"Honestly, Ronald.  You'd think with everything we've been doing lately you'd have known that!"

  
A tunnel opened up in the hedge closest to the remaining champions to allow them to exit the maze easily and began closing behind them as they walked through, leaving the obstacles trapped inside.

  
Viktor looked angry but resigned.

Fleur looked happy to get away from her latest suitor.

Tom--though outwardly to most people probably looked modestly proud and fascinated by the goings on, to those that knew him actually looked like he was getting annoyed at all the hoopla and just wanted to get back to his lab now that he had his money.

  
Kids in the crowd who'd bought fireworks from Fred and George began setting them off, and soon the air was filled with dazzling pinwheels, explosions of color, all the house animals of Hogwarts standing together, ferocious dragons, and a swooping phoenix, there was even a giant squid chasing a dementor.

As they began making their way down to congratulate Tom, they saw Fleur had already gotten there and seemed to be trying to devour Tom's face.

He didn't seem to mind.

  
There was a great feast to commemorate the successful closing of the tournament. Everyone celebrated and did their best to have a good time. It was all over for the champions, but for the rest of them it had only just begun. Exam week hell would be starting soon.

 

 

Head Unspeakable Lovegood was waiting when Bode and his team reappeared, looking slightly singed and a bit the worse for wear.  
"Report."  
"The mission succeeded. Our target was eliminated, though there was some collateral damage."  
"Explain."  
"We needed some way to explain the fire we set on Zola's hideaway, so we manufactured a massive power surge in the academy that fried a good portion of their equipment, though sadly not all."  
"To make it seem more realistic, we've had teams hitting all the scientific outposts one after another across each time zone to make it seem like massive solar flare activity was responsible."  
"Unfortunately, we underestimated how quick they would be to call for military back-up, even when the 'attack' seemed purely mundane in nature."  
"And we underestimated how quickly said back-up would arrive."  
"Were you seen?"  
"We were not. We took precautions to guard against all their known ways of scanning for enemies."  
"Still, they may suspect someone was there even if they cannot explain what we did. When they couldn't see anyone, they simply began bombarding their guns, so we caused a mechanical failure in one of the helicopters. It managed to entangle and crash a second helicopter, but the last was still coming so we returned to Zola's lair rather than continue manufacturing a distraction at the Academy."  
"Even though it was inconvenient, the back-up coming to the Academy and not to Zola's lair is a good sign that we actually succeeded in destroying him and keeping him contained while we did so."  
"Which is the best outcome we could hope for." Lovegood sighed. "Though I would have preferred a clean in-and-out, by the sound of it things didn't go too badly even so. In fact, this may even work to our advantage. If SHIELD decides this was an attack rather than  simply solar flare activity, they will assume the attack was on the academy, and begin looking at disgruntled former students and employees. With that motive in mind, they'll likely assume the fire at Zola's lair was meant as a distraction to draw eyes away from there. HYDRA will likely assume the main attack was on Zola's lair and the stuff at the Academy was meant as a distraction. If both groups are looking for clues, sooner or later some enterprising SHIELD agent is going to realize their interest in what should have been simply a derelict old office building in the middle of nowhere and begin wondering what's going on. Yes, that could work nicely. You have all done very well. We'll regroup in a few days to begin brainstorming how to further cause them trouble."  
Lumier's eyes lit with glee and he opened his mouth as though to speak.  
"If you have ideas already, present them then. If not, think of some. Dismissed."

 

 

 

  
"Well, we've survived another exam week hell. Yay us." Ron sighed.

  
"Be quiet. We're smoking weird Hufflepuff herbs and drinking wine trying to forget it." Draco muttered.

  
"How do you all think you did?" Hermione wondered.

  
"My potion was off color. Not a lot, but Snape's not very forgiving. That guy really needs to get married or something." Harry grumbled idly.

  
"Or just laid." Theo snickered.

  
"Why did I take arithimancy again? _So many numbers_ …" Millicent sighed.

  
"Yeah…and then you add them up and they become bigger numbers." Ron nodded.

  
"We're like gods when we play with numbers, aren't we? We cut them in pieces, stick them with others and make them have babies…" Neville mused.

  
"But they still retain their own essential nature no matter what, and remain unchanged. I think the numbers are actually gods." Luna mused.

  
"Whoa…" Neville said in shock.

  
"I think I mixed up h and k on the cuneiform portion in ancient runes." Colin lamented.

  
"Yeah, I can never remember which one gets the short wedge and which gets the long one. Someone should go back in time and tell them to make better letters." Astoria grumbled.

  
"My bunny goblet was lopsided. I told McGonagall it was artistic license." Theo admitted.

  
"Yeah? You tell her." Draco nodded.

  
"It's a microwave you use to see unborn babies, right?" Astoria asked suddenly.

  
"What? No. That's the box that cooks food fast. That would kill a baby." Hermione protested, sounding shocked.

  
"Oh. Damn."

The two of them considered that for a moment and started giggling as it suddenly struck them funny.

  
"What's the belly machine then?" Sarah, one of the Ravenclaw third years in the twelve-OWL group asked uneasily.

  
"Ultrasound." Harry answered.

  
"Ultrasound, microwave…close enough, right?"

  
"Yeah, not so much."

  
"Did anyone see anything in their crystal ball? All I saw were a lot of clouds… Not even interesting clouds that look like other stuff, just wispy clouds racing by." Millicent wondered.

  
"I thought I saw a dodgy looking fellow with a long face and a longer nose… turns out it was just my reflection." Ron sighed.

  
"That's rough, buddy." Neville offered, patting him on the arm.

  
"Just one more year. I gotta keep telling myself that."

  
"We were mad, all of us." Draco grumbled, before making himself more comfy on the giant pillow he was sprawled across.

  
"HA! You think this is bad, just wait till OWL year." Lee scoffed.

  
"Yeah, that was awful. I'll be honest. I'm really dreading the NEWTs." Kendall admitted.

  
"They're supposed to be ten times worse…  
"…and the OWLs are bad enough." the twins agreed.

  
"Ours will be worse. You two were only taking nine classes." Ron said flatly.

  
"Well, that's your own fault, isn't it?"  
"Yeah. Should have slacked off like the rest of us." the twins replied without missing a beat.

  
The whole twelve OWL group--minus Ginny, who still wasn't part of the Garden--had decided to make a pillow fort in the conference room to unwind after their grueling exams.

Fred, George, Lee, Bernard and Kendall had followed them, curious about what they were all getting up to.

They had helped conjure pillows, and then gone and gotten a hookah and some herbs from the NEWT greenhouses from some of the Hufflepuffs, as well as a couple of bottles of wine.

They were all feeling rather relaxed now…and hungry--though thankfully Olaf and Brunhilde were on the case and had brought them trays of snacks as soon as they settled in.

  
Their relaxed merriment was interrupted as the side of the pillow fort went up, to show Tom and Fleur crouching in the opening.

  
"Is this a private party or can anyone join?"

  
"The more the merrier." Lee said expansively.

  
"Yeah, don't just hover and look disapproving. You're harshing our groove, man." Harry commented before taking another drag off the hookah.

  
"I want more hookah…but I’m also hungry. I don't know what to do." Hermione's woebegone voice cut across the giggling.

  
"You've got two hands. You can, whatyacallit…alternate."

  
Hermione looked at Ron with gratitude and shocked respect.

  
"Ron! You're brilliant!"

  
"Well…yeah." Ron agreed with a grin.

  
"What is wrong with all of zhem?" Fleur asked, sounding disturbed.

  
"Hufflepuffs have bad habits. I knew there had to be a downside to all this house unity." Tom sighed.

He flicked his wand and put them all to sleep--not hard as most of them were halfway there already--put out the hookah and snagged a bottle of wine and the remaining snacks.

  
"Zhey are cheeldren. Zhey should not be doing such things."

  
"They're all taking twelve OWLs and have been travelling through time the last two years to complete all the classes and have enough time to come here as well. I think they're just a bit burned out, so they decided to relax a bit. There's no real harm in it… to my knowledge this is the first time they've done it."

  
"You invented time travel as well?!"

  
"Oddly enough, no, though it delights me that you have such faith in my abilities."

  
"You won ze tournament wiz great ease, you have excellent grades, and you have many patents to your name before you are even out of school."

  
"Oh, darling, you haven't seen anything yet. One of these days I'll give you the stars."

  
Fleur slanted a sultry look his way before gently snagging part of his tie and tugging him along.

  
"Really? Perhaps in zee meantime I can make you _see stars_ , yes?"

  
"My office is empty!" Tom offered, making a passable attempt at keeping his cool.

 

  
The rest of the Garden kids stumbled across the pillow fort and looked inside.

  
"Bastards! They had a party and didn't invite us!"

  
"Looks like quite the party too. There's still some wine left, and some stuff left in the hookah."

  
"Grab it. We can get the 'puffs to spot us some more if we need it."

  
"What are you doing, Dennis?"

  
"Getting Colin's camera." Dennis answered easily. He made sure to get pictures of everyone sprawled out across the room.

  
"Little brat!" Pansy huffed, before grabbing hold of Astoria, who was snuggled up against Draco and hauling her away to dump on Theo, who was sprawled out on his back, arms akimbo and snoring loudly.

Daphne, seeing what she was doing, moved her next to Millicent instead.

Draco, missing the warmth that was there a moment ago, ended up snuggled with Ron. Dennis made sure to get pictures.

  
"Damn Harry anyway. How does he always end up with two girls?" Seamus asked as he tried to pry the hookah out of Harry's hand. Luna and Hermione were snuggled up on either side of him.

  
"It's 'cause he thinks of every girl he meets as his bloody sister, that's why. If he was actually looking to get busy with two girls at once, they probably wouldn't give him the time of day. Birds are annoying like that." Dean answered bitterly.

  
"Trouble in paradise?"

  
"Ginny dumped me."

  
"She did? Why?"

  
"Got me. She's been snapping at me a lot lately and then today she told me things weren't working for her."

  
"Her loss. Forget her. Let's go have our own party." Seamus ordered. He popped the cork on one of the remaining bottles of wine and handed it over. "Bottoms up."

  
Dean sighed and took a deep draught of the wine, then made a face. "I don't think wine is really my thing. You ever have any luck making firewhiskey in your trunk?"

  
"Well… I made _something_. It smells like turpentine, goes down like one of Snape's potions and has a kick like a bloody mule."

  
"Bring it on."

  
"That's the spirit, mate! And look at the bright side. Yeah, you're upset now, but this might be a good thing in the long run. She's not one of us. No more getting torn between her and this place."

  
"Yeah, that's true isn't it. You and I can hang out more too, like we used to." Dean added with a cheerful grin.

  
Seamus got distracted from answering by the arrival of his boyfriend.

  
"Seamus, there you are. What happened here?"

  
"Can you believe it? The bastards had a party without us! Obviously we've got to have our own now. Walk me up to Gryffindor? There's only a little wine left. I need to get my experimental alcohol to make up the difference."

  
"You've been doing that too? How'd yours turn out? Mine tastes good, but you'd have to drink a couple of gallons of it to get even slightly tipsy."

  
"Tastes awful, kick like a mule."

  
"Perfect! We can mix them and maybe some fruit juice and make punch!"

  
"Brilliant! Oi, Dean, start rounding everyone up in the big conference room, eh?  We'll be back."

  
Dean mustered up a smile and nodded. "Sure thing, mate."

 

 

 

 

"Alright, everyone, quiet down! Come on, now, we'll all be leaving in the morning, so this is our last chance to have a group meeting before then." Harry waited until everyone settled down and then began.

  
"Alright, as all of you may or may not know, Tom will be spending the first week of summer in France with Fleur and her family while she takes her NEWTs…or whatever they call the French equivalent-- and then they'll be returning here so she can spend the summer with us. Hermione has to break it to her muggle parents that she's now magically engaged at age fifteen to an of-age Bulgarian sports star, which I'm _sure_ will go over real well. She's been trying to convince her parents to go to Bulgaria, but they opted for Greece, where Viktor and his parents will be meeting them."

  
There were a few winces in the audience, and Hermione received many consoling pats on the back and arms.

Even among purebloods the average parent wasn't likely to be too thrilled with such a thing happening, though they would at least have the magical background to accept it somewhat.

  
"What that means for the rest of us is that we won't be doing the launch until we're all back together." Harry waited until the disappointed groans died down.

  
"We will be busy though, never doubt that. For one thing, the international trains have just opened. They wanted to wait for all of us, but we're getting out so late this year, the other countries didn't want to hold off that long. Even so, I'm sure we all want to take a look. Another thing we'll be doing is putting together a presentation for the ICW, which apparently meets during the month of July, which means we have to be ready to go for the last session. It's all been arranged and they'll be expecting us. I want everyone's input on this. We need to really drive home to the old guys and gals on the ICW that this is serious and needs to be started on sooner rather than later. It would be catastrophic if talking about this get shuffled to endless committees for the next couple of years. We need to really make a bold statement."

  
In the audience, Fred raised his hand and waited to be recognized.

  
"Yeah, Fred?"

  
"We were just thinking" he gestured to George "If we're telling the world about this… we might want to tell our families first. I don't know about the rest of you, but I can guarantee that our mum, if she feels she's been made a fool of, or made to look like a bad parent that hasn't the least idea what's going on in her kids' lives, she'll likely never forgive us for it."

  
Beside them Ron went grey, Neville gulped nervously, and Theo and Draco, whose dads both worked for the corporation but who weren't in the know, went white.

  
Harry nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, that's a good point, actually. Alright, here's what we'll do. When we finalize the date of the launch, we'll send out invitations to everyone's families. I suppose we can put together a presentation for them too, one that focuses more on what we've been doing than on the possible end of the wizarding world at the hands of muggles… Yeah, that should work. Once they have an idea of what's going on, we can bring them to mission control for the launch and explain what's going on, and then they can be there with us watching when it gets to the asteroid belt. Our best estimation is that it will take a couple of hours to get way out there, so we could show them around the labs and stuff in the meantime, have lunch, that kind of thing…"

  
"What about those of us whose families are muggles?" Justin asked quietly. "My parents aren't stupid. Even if it never gets stated outright, they're going to realize we're planning to leave the earth and not come back."

  
"This is never going to work, any of it." Hermione realized. "Even if a few witches and wizards are willing to leave their families behind, I can't imagine it would even be most, let alone all. We're never going to convince anyone to leave if it means leaving half the population behind!"

  
"I hate to break it to you two, but it's really only here in Britain that it's going to be a problem." Tom interjected. "The rest of the world has no muggleborn, because when they have squibs it's extremely rare, like one birth in a quarter million rare. More to the point, when a rare squib is born, they aren't dumped in the muggle world. Unlike Britain, where we live cheek by jowl with muggles in every part of the country, most places have a whole magical province to themselves, like France does, and Russia and Germany and Spain, or they have a completely magical city somewhere in the country. Inbreeding hasn't been the problem for other countries that is has here either,  for several reasons. Places like China and India simply have a much larger population of magical people to begin with. In the case of Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, they have students coming in from several countries, which means they get exposed to a much larger dating pool than the average Hogwarts student who only gets to meet other British wizards that they're likely related to on both sides of the family. Other countries, if their sons and daughters couldn't find a match locally, will send them to tour other magical districts.  They do _not_ send them out into the muggle world to look for spouses. It simply isn't done. What it all adds up to is that places other than Britain don't have a muggleborn population. They don't have numerous witches with muggle spouses. The fact is, everywhere else, if they decide to get on board with leaving the planet, will simply start packing up their villages, cities and provinces to do so. It's really only here that deciding what to do about the muggles in the family is even going to be an issue. "

  
"That's ridiculous. There must be some…" Hermione argued.

  
"Non. Thomas is right. Where I live in France is a magical province. Zhere are no muggles anywhere within. If a wizard cannot find a witch, he goes looking for a veela or a nymph. I doubt it would occur to any wizard there to go looking for a muggle. He could not bring her home wiz him, he would 'ave to leave ze province, leave heez wand behind…and zhen eef zhey had magical cheeldren, zhey to would be forced to live among ze muggles unteel zhey were done wiz zhere schooling, and he unteel his wife died. I do not know of any wizard in France zhat would be willing to do this. I do not understand why zhis was allowed in zhis country. Secrecy requires zhat ze muggles are not allowed to know about magic. By ze sound of things, half or more of ze muggles in Britain know about magic. Zhis is against all international law!"

  
"It was probably that damned dementor. He wanted to rule over wizards and muggles both, so he wasn't down with secrecy. He probably started undermining it right from the start." Harry grumbled.

  
"Which brings us right back to what do we do now?" Justin spoke up again. "My parents will probably be thrilled with the space program, and I'm sure they'll want to take a jaunt on one of the ships…but they're not going to want to leave. They have lives here, and jobs and responsibilities and friends…not to mention my younger brother just started Eton. And what are they going to tell people after I leave? Doing the muggle studies thing means they can tell people stuff about where I supposedly am now, though they still have to answer a lot of questions about why on earth I'd turn down Eton to go to some school no one's heard of. If I simply disappear altogether there are going to be questions, which means my parents and my brother might be in danger from SHIELD for the rest of their lives!"

  
"It's the same for me. My parents have their practice and their friends… how are they going to explain where I am? They're going to want to take a trip to space too, but if they realize I'm planning to leave for good they might just snap my wand, pull me from school and try to abscond with me so I can't… especially after I tell them about Viktor. For all they've tried to be supportive all this might just be too much for them!"

  
"And what's my mum going to do? She's probably not gonna agree to just leave dad behind, but I can't imagine he's gonna be too thrilled being the only muggle in a world of wizards. If mum stays behind, she'll be in danger from SHIELD the rest of her life." Seamus agreed.

  
"Not necessarily. You realize if your mother stays behind, she's going to have to give up her wand, and any traces of magic will be removed from your home. That will be true for any magical person that stays behind. You'll be choosing to be a muggle-- _all the time, for the rest of your life."_

  
"What about muggleborns born after everyone leaves? If they do accidental magic, they'll be grabbed up by SHIELD. It fine for any adults if they choose to give up magic. They can live out their lives under the radar and hope for the best…the kids can't do that!"

  
"I suppose we'll have to track down all the squib lines and take them with us. It's the only way to keep more muggleborns from appearing after we leave."

  
"Not all of them, just any young enough that they might have kids. Any too old can be left in place to live out their lives."

  
"What kind of numbers are we talking here? If we have to round up a bunch of folks who think they're muggles and tell them _'oh, sorry, but you have to leave all that you know on the off chance your future children might be magical and get rounded up to be experimented on'_ … I can only see that going badly!"

  
"Not to mention it sort of defeats the whole purpose of leaving if we bring a few hundred muggles with us!"

  
The whole group began arguing loudly. It took Harry several tries to get everyone's attention.

  
**"OKAY, ALRIGHT, ENOUGH!"**

  
It still took several minutes for everyone to quiet down.

  
"Look, obviously this isn't something that can be decided right here and now. At the very least we need to get some real numbers on how many people we're talking about, and even then, it's probably something that's going to have to be decided on a case by case basis. We need to find out how many muggle family members are likely to want to come with us…and we'll need to figure out what the heck we're going to do with them if they do. I mean, think about it, there'll only be so many jobs or anything they'll be able to do in the new world. And, well, they're bound to get resentful at some point. I know I'd feel like shite if everyone in the whole world could go flying around and teleporting everywhere and bending the laws of reality at a whim, and there I was, unable to do any of it. It will be pre-secrecy all over again. Even if they're family members to large swaths of the wizarding population, there's no guarantee they won't band together in a big band of seething resentment and try to destroy us at some point. Draco was right in that much, it does kind of defeat the purpose of leaving if we just have a new muggle problem waiting to happen that we bring with us. If we're going to do that, we might as well just stay here and let ourselves be wiped out in a generation or two!"

  
The argument erupted again and was still going strong when the dinner bell rang. It made for a rather grim leaving feast.

 

 

 

"Where the heck is Hermione, anyway?" Ron wondered. They had been on the train for a few hours already, and they hadn't seen any sign of their bushy-headed friend.

  
"She's probably off in the dining car with the rest of the muggleborn and halfbloods." Theo said darkly. "Millie's back there too."

  
"I don't like this. They're probably plotting against us." Draco added, equally grim.

  
"That's crazy. Why would they be plotting against us?" Neville huffed.

  
"Because that's how it always ends up! Bloody muggles have been the main problem our society has had to deal with through most of our history! We ended up crammed in all the odd corners of the world in the first place because they were out in force trying their best to kill us. There's still parts of the world where the stupid muggles kill other stupid muggles because they decide they're a witch. They continue to be a problem for us because our stupid government is continually kow-towing to them and to the muggleborn." Draco growled.

  
"We're not going to let that happen, but try to be sensitive here. Up until now it's been fun and games in the secret clubhouse, building stuff and dreaming about our great space adventure. It's just suddenly hit all of them that it means they might end up never seeing one or more of their parents again, not to mention any non-magical siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents… How would you feel if it was you? It's going to take them some time to process everything. They also have to think about whether that's worth it to them, or if they're going to stay, but give up magic." Hannah scolded.

  
"They're not plotting against us. If anything, I'll bet most of them are off together because they feel guilty." Harry interjected quietly.

  
"Guilty about what?"

  
"The fact that they've already made their choice and it was an easy one…the only real problem is that they worry about what happens after."

  
He looked at the rest of them and shook his head. "Weren't you listening? What did Justin say? _They're going to realize **we're** leaving the earth and never coming back._ What did Hermione say? _**We'll** never convince everyone to leave, because surely not **everyone** will leave their family behind._ What did Seamus say? _**Mum's** not gonna be too keen to leave dad behind, but if **she** stays she'll be in danger from SHIELD_. Don't you see? Whether they realized it or not, they've already made their choice, only it's now hitting them that they each want to keep magic in their lives more than they want to keep their parents, however much they love them. How do you think that made them feel when they realized? It's not very heroic, not very loyal either…but staying is out of the question, unless they want to be muggles and hope it's enough to keep SHIELD from taking an interest in them. If I had still been with my muggle relatives, I wouldn't have thought twice about it one way or another. I would have left with a clear conscience, never looked back, and quite honestly never worried one way or another that something might happen to them after I was gone. For anyone with a similarly antagonistic relationship with their muggles, the choice is easy. It turns out, the choice is easy even when you like your muggles… They're not plotting." Harry repeated, sounding tired "They're off feeling wretched and wondering if choosing to leave makes them a repugnant human being. The last thing any of them needs is anyone giving them a hard time and accusing them of treachery."

  
Draco sat down and looked sulky. "It is kind of a rotten thing to do, isn't it? Just throw your parents away? Isn't that why Slytherin didn't trust that dementor bloke in the first place?"

  
"It's a completely different situation!" Hannah said impatiently.

  
Draco sneered, but Harry spoke up again to agree.

  
"Yes, it really is. Professor Binns even said he couldn't be judged by modern standards. Back then, a thousand years ago, muggles on the whole were rather wretched beasts. They lived short, brutal lives, mired in filth and disease and spent their whole lives in back-breaking labor, dying in childbirth, or murdered by brigands if they weren't dead in one of the countless wars that were always raging back then. A wizard with even just a couple of years of education under his belt could have improved their lives immensely, even if the only thing he ever did was drive away some of the vermin that infested their houses and clothing, set a few broken bones and put up a few preservation charms wherever they were storing the harvest. He couldn't be bothered to do even that much."

  
Neville nodded. "Harry's right. This time, leaving their muggle families behind protects them. You've seen yourself that they've nearly reached a level where their science is equal to our magic. They've learned to overcome countless diseases that once killed them. Families don't need to have a dozen children to insure that at least one or two live to adulthood. They don't live ankle-deep in mud and vermin, most of the populace is no longer illiterate…they've come a long way."

  
"That they have." Harry agreed. "Unfortunately, while many muggles are peaceful sorts who just want to live their lives and get on with things, there's still a whole bunch of them that are savage, murderous beasts that want to destroy or control everything. They're not abandoning their families to filth and squalor and disease, they're protecting them from murderous thugs with guns and crazy scientists that will want to dissect them."

  
"None of them want to stay here anymore than we do with something like that hanging over our heads, but to do that they need to leave their muggle relatives behind, so they'll be safe as well." Neville concluded.

  
"See? Completely different!" Hannah added.

  
Theo sighed and slumped back in his seat, Draco frowned and turned to stare sightlessly out the window.

  
"This whole situation is just messed up, isn't it?"

  
"Yeah, you can say that again."

  
"Oi, mate…are you gonna open up that food basket any time soon?"

  
The tense atmosphere shattered and the kids all found themselves laughing.

  
"We can always count on your stomach to stay concerned with priorities, huh?"

 

 

  
"It's going to be weird, isn't it?" Hannah said quietly once they'd finished eating.

  
"What is?"

  
"We're going to be leaving."

  
They all turned to look out the window at the rolling green hills, the trees, the small houses dotting the distant landscape, all of it backlit by an amazing sunset.

A feeling of terrible melancholy filled all of them.

Good parts and bad, planet earth was their home no less than it was the home of their muggle counterparts; and while it might be easy to make the decision to leave, actually leaving behind all they knew for the great unknown was something else altogether different.

  
"I think everyone feels homesick when they leave home the first time." Luna interjected quietly. "It's to be expected. The earth has nurtured us and all our ancestors for years untold. We would have to be completely heartless to not feel sad, knowing we'll be leaving her behind forever. It's part of growing up though, isn't it? We'll just be making a bigger journey than most upon leaving home for the first time."

  
"And in time, we'll make a new home. One just as beautiful, that will nurture our descendants for years untold." Neville added. "But yeah, it's going to be weird."

  
"You know what's really gonna be weird. No more Hogwarts." Ron mused.

  
**"We are not leaving Hogwarts behind."**

  
"Uh….mate? Even with space expansion, the size ship we'd need to transport Hogwarts anywhere would be huge. I'd think it'd be kinda hard to hide it from the muggles too."

  
"Hogwarts was the first home Tom or I ever knew, and in Tom's case at least, it was built by one of his ancestors. We're not leaving her behind! Not only is it sad to think of her trapped here all alone and empty, the muggles will never appreciate her when they eventually find her!  They'll decide she's _freaky_ for moving around on her own _and bomb her all to hell to make it stop! **There's no way I'm letting that happen. I don't care if we have to dismantle her stone by stone and transport her in batches to reassemble on the other side, she's not getting left behind and that's that."**_

  
The rest of them exchanged a look and turned back to Harry with a placating smile.

  
"Okay then."

  
"Yeah. Uh, glad to hear it."

  
"It would have been weird, no Hogwarts."

  
"One less thing to worry about."

  
"Damn straight."

 

 

  
Hermione and Millicent rejoined them as they were making their final approach to King's Cross Station. They both looked a bit down still.  
Ron eyeballed them both and shook his head.

  
"You're not terrible people, and it's not like when Slytherin was around at all. You'll be protecting them and yourself by leaving. Yeah, it's sad, but choosing a new life elsewhere doesn't make you evil."

  
Hermione gave them all a watery smile.

  
"We had kind of figured that much out for ourselves." Millicent nodded.

  
"But it helps to know people who aren't us think that too." Hermione agreed.

  
They could feel the train starting to slow down.

  
"Looks like we're here." Luna noted. She turned to fix the two girls with her misty gaze and smiled at them. "Don't waste whatever time you have left with them being sad. We're not leaving tomorrow or probably even next year. Keep that in mind."

  
Hermione nodded again, dabbed at her eyes and straightened her shoulders.

  
"Harry? Could you?"

  
Harry hit her with a calming charm.

  
"Thank you. Now I just have to explain about Viktor before it wears off. This should help a lot."

  
"Good luck."

  
"Yeah. I doubt they'll actually kill you."

  
"Thanks, Ron."

  
"Well, looks like this is it."

  
"See you all in a week."

  
"Asteroid field, here we come!" 


End file.
